.jpg) Military service for a minimum of 24 months is compulsory for able-bodied South Korean men, but many of the richest corporate scions appear to be avoiding the buzz cut. / Korea Times file |
Are chaebol scions buying their way out of military service?
By Kim Da-ye
More than four out of 10 chaebol family members in their 30s and early 40s have been exempted from national service, a report claimed Tuesday.
The very richest of corporate scions continue to receive exemption from the compulsory military service, raising concerns that the privileged aren’t fulfilling their social responsibilities.
News agency Yonhap found in its own survey that 40 or 35.1 percent of 114 family members from 11 major conglomerates did not serve in the Armed Forces.
The portion is 5.8 percentage points higher than that of other men exempted from military service at 29.3 percent, the figure released by the Military Manpower Administration earlier this year.
Exemptions for these priveleged citizens have increased as the generations have gotten younger.
Four out of 13 chaebol family members born in the 1930s and 40s ― about 31 percent ― did not serve in the military, compared to 10 or 37 percent of 27 born in the 1950s and 10 or 37 percent of 27 born in the 1960s.
The ratio jumped to 41.7 percent with 15 out of 36 born in 1970s exempted.
In the mean time, the exemption ratio for other people dropped significantly from 38.5 percent of men born in the 1940s to 18.3 percent of those born in the 1970s.
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee finished his military service while his son Lee Jae-yong, also the firm’s president, was exempted because of illness.
Chairman Lee’s nephews, CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun and Shinsegae Group Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin, did not join the military either.
Similar patterns are repeated in the Hyundai and LG families although on a much smaller scale.
Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo and his brother Chung Mong-joon, a majority stake holder of Hyundai Heavy Industries, fulfilled their military duties while the chairman’s son Chung Eui-sun did not.
Both Chairman Koo Bon-moo and his brother and LG Electronics CEO Koo Bon-joon served in the military while their 47-year-old cousin Gu Bon-jin, vice president of LG Fashion, did not.
The SK families showed a high exemption ratio with the second generation members including SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, SK E&S Vice Chairman Chey Jae-won and SK Chemical Vice Chairman Chey Chang-won not serving.
Another second-generation chaebol family member exempted from national service is Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn. Two of his sons served in the military while the third son was exempted.
The reasons for exemption included illness for 11 out of the 40 exempted, foreign citizenship for nine, four were overweight, three had poor sight and two were studying abroad for an extended period of time.
The military service exemption has been a controversial issue in various sectors of the Korean society.
The Law Times said in July that 34 out of 211 high ranking officials in legal professions did not serve in the military while the exemption rate for children of ministers and vice ministers in the Lee Myung-bak administration reached 11.2 percent in 2008.
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