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SEOUL: South Korea’s military shrank by 20 percent in the past six years to 450,000 troops, largely due to a sharp drop in the population of males of enlistment age for mandatory service in the country with the world’s lowest birthrate, a report said on Sunday.

The dramatic decline in the pool of available males for military service is also causing a shortfall in the number of officers and could result in operational difficulty if it continues, the defense ministry said in the report.

The report was made to the ruling Democratic Party member of parliament Choo Mi-ae, whose office released it.

South Korea’s military has steadily declined since the early 2000s when it had about 690,000 soldiers. The pace accelerated during the late 2010s and there were about 563,000 active-duty soldiers and officers in 2019.

North Korea is believed to have an active-duty military of about 1.2 million, according to the latest estimate by the defense ministry in 2022.

In the period between 2019 and 2025, the population of 20-year-old males declined by 30 percent to 230,000, according to government data, the age when most men who pass a physical exam enlist for military service, which is now 18 months long.

The military has cited improved capabilities as a key reason for shortening service periods, made possible by a military alliance with the United States and the development of a defense industry that has become a major exporter of arms.

Able-bodied men served 36 months in 1953 when the Korean War ended in an armistice.

South Korea’s defense budget, at more than 61 trillion won ($43.9 billion) in 2025, is larger than the estimated size of North Korea’s economy.

Still, the military is 50,000 troops short of the number of troops adequate for maintaining defense readiness, the ministry said. About 21,000 of the shortfall is in the non-commissioned officer ranks, it said.

South Korea is one of the world’s fastest aging societies and has the lowest fertility rate in the world at 0.75 in 2024, which signifies the average number of babies a woman is expected to have during her reproductive life.

Its population, which hit a peak of 51.8 million in 2020, is expected to shrink to 36.2 million by 2072, according to a government projection.

One person was killed, and several apartments and an industrial facility were damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack on the south Russian region of Saratov, the governor said on Sunday.

Roman Busargin posted on the Telegram messaging app that residents were evacuated after debris from a destroyed drone damaged three apartments in the overnight attack.

“Several residents required medical assistance,” Busargin said. “Aid was provided onsite, and one person has been hospitalized. Unfortunately, one person has died.”

Russian air defense units destroyed 121 Ukrainian drones overnight, including eight over the Saratov region, the defense ministry said. It reports only how many drones its defense units down, not how many Ukraine launches.

Busargin did not specify what kind of industrial site was damaged.

Social media footage showed thick black smoke rising over what looked like an industrial zone. Reuters verified the location seen in one of the videos as matching file and satellite imagery of the area. Reuters could not verify when the video was filmed.

Ukrainian media, including the RBK-Ukraine media outlet, reported that the oil refinery in the city of Saratov, the administrative center of the region, was on fire after a drone attack.

Reuters could not verify those reports. There was no official comment from Russia.

The Rosneft-owned refinery in the Saratov city was forced to suspend operations earlier this year for safety reasons after Ukrainian drone attacks, industry sources told Reuters.

Russia’s SHOT Telegram channel, which often publishes information from sources in the security services and law enforcement, reported about eight explosions were heard over Saratov and Engels, cities separated by the Volga River.

Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said on Telegram that flights in and out of Saratov had been halted for about two hours early on Sunday to ensure air safety.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in their strikes on each other’s territory in the war that Russia launched with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Kyiv says its attacks inside Russia are aimed at destroying infrastructure that is key to Moscow’s war efforts, including energy and military infrastructure, and are in response to Russia’s continued strikes.