By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff reporter
A group of Korean men resisting mandatory military duty has decided to file a petition with the United Nations, calling on the international organization to stop the Korean government from punishing those who refuse to serve in the armed forces on the basis of self-conscience.
The move comes five months after the U.N. Human Rights Committee asked Korea to release two men in their 20s who have been imprisoned for refusing to go to the military because of their religious beliefs.
The Criminal Korea Solidarity for Conscientious Objection (KSCO), a civic group advocating the rights of objectors to military duty, said Thursday that it will file an appeal to the U.N. on May 15 on behalf of 11 Korean men who are currently in jail for declining to serve in the military.
``On behalf of Oh Tae-yang and 10 other individuals, we will appeal to the U.N. against the Korean law that penalizes those who reject Korea's military conscription. The Korean government's criminal punishments against military objectors violates Article 18 of the U.N. Charter, which grants individuals the freedom of consciousness and religion,'' KSCO chairman Choi Jung-min said.
Meanwhile, the government is currently considering a range of measures to relieve two Jehovah's Witnesses who have been imprisoned for years for refusing to serve in the military on their religious grounds. It is also devising steps to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
``Since the U.N. recommended us to help the two conscientious objectors in December 2009, we have been looking into various measures. But it is not that simple to release the two Jehovah's Witnesses as they were found guilty by the Supreme Court. We may initiate a special bill to financially compensate them for their time in prison. Or, we may allow them to seek a new trial by a court under new ground,'' an official at the Ministry of Justice said.
He then said the ministry will study the pros and cons of all measures on the table, adding it will come out with a final draft in the near future and report to the U.N.
The justice ministry has been running a taskforce in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the National Court Administration and the National Human Rights Commission to search for effective ways of implementing the U.N. recommendation.
As a preventative step, it will likely consider allowing objectors to military duty serve under an alternative service program. ``We will first discuss the matter with the Ministry of National Defense. Together, we will come up with an alternative military service scheme that pleases all stakeholders,'' the official said.
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