PAJU, SOUTH KOREA — On a drizzling Monday morning in mid-November, about 240 men in saggy, camouflage suits hustled themselves into the gate engraved with the sign in Korean — “Strong Republic of Korea Reserve Forces, Strong Korea!”

It was a training day for South Korean reserve forces. All reserve soldiers must complete about three-day worth of military training a year for six years after they get discharged from active duty. (Every South Korean man, aged between 19 to 29, must serve in the military for either 21 or 24 months, depending on a branch.)  

They needed to pass the gate before 9 a.m. unless they wanted to come back at another time or pay a fat penalty in lieu of dating a M-16 rifle for the next eight hours.

Going to the training means giving up on their dailies. The compensation for them is about $7 travel expense.

“The reserve military training is such a waste of time, but I have to do it because my country is calling me here,” Lee Seung-hak, 28, who’s in his last year as reservist, said in Korean.

Many of them would agree with Lee. But the training affords Lee and his battle-buddies a greater cause:

To deter North Korea’s aggression.

South Korea has about 620,000 active duty soldiers who protect the battle front, whereas more than three million reserve soldiers shield the rear, where most of 51 million South Koreans reside, said Lt. Col. Lim Ji-hyuk, who is the commander of the reserve forces training camp in Paju.

“When an war occurs on the Korean Peninsula, it is our reserve forces that protect their communities, neighbors and families,” Lim said. “Our reserve forces have been deterring a further military provocation by the North.”

In 1996, a group of reserve soldiers played a critical role sweeping a North Korean submarine, which attempted to get into Gangneung shore, east of South Korea.

North Korea, since the Korean War paused in 1953, has militarily provoked South Korea and the United States more than 3,000 times, according to a report by the South Korean Defense Ministry. Most recently in August 2015, two South Korean soldiers lost part of their limbs by North’s mines installed inside the Demilitarized Zone, or the DMZ.

And in September 2017, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un executed the regime’s sixth nuclear test, which South Korean military intelligence predicted could immediately kill about two million people if bombed in Seoul.

Historians say the history of the Korean Peninsula traces back about 5,000 years ago, when Gojoseon was founded. Since then, more than 500 wars have occurred on the peninsula.

“That’s a war in every 10 years,” Ret. Brig. Gen. Lee Ji-young, who recently served three years at the Korean Defense Military Intelligence as an auditor, said in Korean.

It’s been more than six decades since the most recent war has occurred on the peninsula, Lee said.

“That’s why you (referring a reserve soldier) are receiving this training,” he said. “To prepare for war, and to calm and help many active duty soldiers with your military know-how when a war comes to us.

“It’s your very fate.”

North Korea has more than twice as many soldiers, both active and reserve, than its counterpart. As of 2017, the North has 1.28 million active duty soldiers, both men and women, serving for 10 and seven years, respectively. When it comes to reserve forces, the number goes up to over 7.6 million.

The Monday training comprised five basic tactical tests — gunnery, hand-grenade, capture, chemical, biological and radiological exercise, and situational exercise.

For Han Kee-nam, 27, who’s also in his last year as reservist, those tests were annoying. However, he said, they were necessary in case a war occurs on his motherland.

“If a war breaks out in my country, I will fight,” Han said in Korean.

“I don’t fear it.”