No foul language, South Korean soldiers ordered

South Korean soldiers have been ordered to cut out expletives.

As tensions simmer on the peninsula, defence officials said there is no excuse for foul language and that the country's half a million soldiers should rather brush up on their knowledge of history.

The Defence Minister, Kim Tae-young, ordered his staff this week to strengthen "language purification education". "These soldiers aren't teenagers," the Korea Herald quoted a senior official as saying. "Once they are discharged in their twenties, they can't be constantly cursing their way through life. That's why we want to help clean up their language."