The country's human rights watchdog concluded that it is discriminatory to impose different hair length restrictions on service members according to their rank.

The National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday recommended the defense minister revise the regulations, which it said were unreasonable.

Currently, officers are able to choose between a standard length and shorter, athletic length of hair, while lower ranks can only choose the shorter length. 

While the military claimed stricter rules are enforced on junior ranks since they live in groups and are at higher risk of requiring emergency medical care, the watchdog said the rules violate their right to equality.

The commission said that hair regulations based on rank don’t exist in other armed forces such as the U.S. and Britain, which have voluntary military systems, or even Israel, which has a conscription system.

The Center for Military Human Rights Korea filed a petition with the commission last year, arguing that the rules are discriminatory.

The defense ministry said the armed forces are carefully reviewing improvements to the current rules on hair length in consideration of the commission's recommendation, job requirement and discipline. It said, however, that no timing or method has been decided.