South Korea's Ministry of National Defense announced a program to train 500,000 conscript drone operators at the 36th Infantry Division base in Wonju, backed by 33 billion won (roughly $22 million) approved by the National Assembly in December 2025 for drones and instructor pipelines, according to War on the Rocks. The Army's noncommissioned officer recruitment rate fell from 95 percent in 2020 to 42 percent in 2024, leaving only 3,400 of 8,100 NCO slots filled, per data submitted to the National Assembly — the cadre shortfall that the author, a former Republic of Korea Army missile operator and counter-drone company co-founder, says cannot be filled by alliance partners.