{
  "id": 8614548,
  "title": "Military duty alternative revives for large conglomerates after 14 years amid AI drive",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/20/military-duty-alternative-revives-for-large-conglomerates-after-14-8614548",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-20T05:17:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Korea Times",
    "slug": "the-korea-times-koreatimes",
    "url": "https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/society/20260920/military-duty-alternative-revives-for-large-conglomerates-after-14-years-amid-ai-drive"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "The Ministry of Science and ICT has recommended large conglomerates, including LG Electronics, HD Hyundai Robotics, Samsung Medison, and Samsung Electronics, to host expert research personnel for the first time in 14 years, as part of a military duty alternative. This move aims to prevent research career interruptions and the outflow of workers abroad, as highlighted in a report submitted to Rep. Hwang Jung-a of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea. The program allows science and engineering graduates with master's or doctoral degrees to work at research sites for three years instead of serving 18 to 21 months in the regular military, with nine research institutes requiring 81 personnel. The decision to suspend new assignments to large conglomerates in 2013 was made to secure research and development personnel for small and medium-sized enterprises, leading to criticism.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Korea Times",
        "title": "Military duty alternative revives for large conglomerates after 14 years amid AI drive",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/20/military-duty-alternative-revives-for-large-conglomerates-after-14",
        "published": "2026-09-20T05:07:03.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}