Rank-and-file soldiers will no longer face detention in a guardhouse for wrongdoing as the military's revised law to abolish the 124-year-old guardhouse system is set to take effect next week, the defense ministry said Tuesday.

Up until now, enlistees could face up to 15 days of detention at military confinement facilities if they break rules. Human rights advocates have charged that the punishment is no different from imprisonment in a criminal case.

Under the revised Military Personnel Management Act, the punishment of guardhouse detention will be replaced with military discipline education starting Aug. 5, according to the ministry.

Following the revision, any incarceration of soldiers will only be possible through an official court trial, and those found guilty while being in service will be put in a military prison, not any other confinement facility.

"The defense ministry will continue to push for defense reform to maintain a strict military spirit while guaranteeing service members' human rights," the ministry said in a release. (Yonhap)