Bing (rank)
Etymology. The Sino-Korean word component "" means "soldier" literally, used in a wide variety of words related with soldiers, like in (; Hanja: , ), but rarely (usually in technical context in armed forces) "per se". s, 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. 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. History. The various ranks of are denoted by stripes worn laterally on a  service member's left sleeve. An even lower rank, that of "mudeungbyeong" (; Hanja: , ), also known as "hullyeonbyeong" (; Hanja: , ), 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. In most comparative military scales, a 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, in South Korea is exceptionally considered as an NCO when holding the squad leader position. 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" (; Hanja: , ), 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. ). Chinese variant. People's Liberation Army. The same rank names are used for all services, prefixed by () or ().