Byeong

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Byeong or byong (Korean: 병; Hanja: 兵) is a military term used in the Republic of Korea Armed Forces to describe a soldier, airman, sailor, or marine who holds a junior enlisted rank. Enlisted personnel under an NCO would be called as byeong or byeongsa (Korean: 병사; Hanja: 兵士) as it is a general term in Korean language for a soldier, but it is not a rank in itself.

The rank of byeong is divided into four classes those being:^[1]

Etymology[]

The Sino-Korean word component "byeong" means "soldier" literally, used in a wide variety of words related with soldiers, like in busang-byeong (Korean: 부상병; Hanja: 負傷兵, lit. 'a wounded soldier'), but rarely (usually in technical context in armed forces) per se.^{[citation needed]}

Byeongjangs, who work closely with their US military counterparts, are frequently addressed as "sergeant" or the equivalent E-5 term in English by the U.S. military.^{[citation needed]} This varies however by unit. In a similar vein, some US E-5s are called hasa by the ROKA members, as their status is one of an NCO.^{[citation needed]}

History[]

The various ranks of byeong are denoted by stripes worn laterally on a service member's left sleeve. An even lower rank, that of mudeungbyeong (Korean: 무등병; Hanja: 無等兵, lit. 'soldier with no rank'), also known as hullyeonbyeong (Korean: 훈련병; Hanja: 訓鍊兵, lit. 'trainee soldier'), is usually believed to be held by enlisted recruits in basic training, and those recruits are not allowed to have any insignia on their uniform until they finish the training course, but they are actually regarded to be ideungbyeong (the lowest byeong rank) officially.^{[citation needed]}

In most comparative military scales, a Byeongjang is considered the equivalent of a non-commissioned officer equal to a sergeant. The South Korean military, however, does not generally grant NCO powers to a service member until obtaining the rank of hasa. Still, Byeongjang in South Korea is exceptionally considered as an NCO when holding the squad leader position.^{[citation needed]}

The word byeong (soldier) has a natural context that personnel in those ranks are not in commanding responsibilities, thus not NCOs at all. They are strictly distinguished from the ranks above in many respects. Personnel with ranks of hasa or above are called ganbu (Korean: 간부; Hanja: 幹部, lit. 'the executive members'), as an antonym of byeong. South Korea's South Korean military are retained by the conscription system. If a person is enlisted to an armed force and has not applied for NCO or officer, then his highest rank until he finishes the mandatory service term (21 months in case of the ROK Army, as of 2012) is to be the highest rank of byeong (i.e. Byeongjang).^{[citation needed]}

Ranks[]

Rank group	Enlisted
	병장 Byeongjang	상등병 Sangdeungbyeong	일등병 Ildeungbyeong	이등병 Ideungbyeong
Republic of Korea Army[2]
Republic of Korea Navy[3]
Republic of Korea Air Force[4]
Republic of Korea Marine Corps[4]
	병장 Byeongjang	상등병 Sangdeungbyeong	일등병 Ildeungbyeong	이등병 Ideungbyeong
Rank group	Enlisted

See also[]

• Comparative military ranks of Korea

References[]