The defense ministry said Monday it will select 60 female college students later this year for a college-based military officer-commissioning program for the first time.
The recruitment of female cadets for the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), however, was set for only this year on a trial basis, the ministry said in a statement.
It said if the trial recruitment proves successful in securing more talented female military officers, the ministry will consider permanently allowing women to enroll in the program.
The ROTC started in South Korea in 1963, but up until now, female college students have been barred from enrolling, which critics say is
discriminatory.
The ministry had initially planned to consider lifting the ban from 2014 as part of a long-term overhaul scheme for the ROTC program, but President Lee Myung-bak told the ministry in May that it could remove the restriction earlier than planned.
Military authorities will pick the female students by November, and they will undergo three weeks of training in military camps before formally becoming ROTC cadets next year, officials said.
Since 1998, South Korea has allowed women to enter military academies.
Currently, there are some 2,900 female military officers in South Korea, accounting for about 4 percent of the total number of officers.