By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

South Korea's Military Law imposing the duty of national defense solely on men has been challenged in a court hearing.

A man filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court, claiming the law conflicted with the right to equality, which is protected under the Constitution.

The court had a public hearing on this issue Thursday, with the date of a ruling yet to be fixed.

Lawyer Chae Hyeong-seok representing the petitioner said, ``The Constitution stipulates the duty of national defense is comprehensively applied to men and women alike. But the Conscription Act mandates only men to undertake military service, which is unconstitutional.''

Chae said physical strength had been a key factor imposing the duty solely on men, while exempting women from the obligation, but this was no longer applicable.

``The physical strength of soldiers was important in conventional wars. However, state-of-the-art weaponry is much more valuable these days, meaning it's unnecessary to limit conscription to men,'' he said.

The lawyer said the government runs a variety of community service programs through which women can also contribute to defending national security, insisting that mandating women to fulfill the duty in that way was a possible answer.

Lawyers representing the Ministry of National Defense refuted the allegation, saying what they consider first is how to maintain military strength, not gender make-up.

Sung Seung-hwan said, ``Enhancing the military by having well-trained soldiers and high-end weapons is much more efficient in maintaining national security than just increasing the number of female soldiers who may be physically weaker to male soldiers.''

Women should be taken care of because they deliver babies, Sung said. ``With the birthrate plunging, encouraging women to have more children is much more valuable than imposing military service on them,'' he added.

Prof. Chang Young-soo at Korea University's College of Law, said, ``Reaching a social consensus on this issue should come before deciding whether women should be obliged to serve in the military.''

``Every Korean citizen has a responsibility to defend national security. Therefore, this is what should be discussed at the National Assembly alongside comprehensive research on relevant factors,'' Chang said.

pss@koreatimes.co.kr