By Lee Tae-hoon
North Korean defectors are questioning the military’s claim that they are eligible to serve in the Armed Forces and are treated the same as their South Korean counterparts during the recruitment process.
“Even though I have never applied for an exemption, I received an exemption letter instead of a draft letter that I expected,” Yeon Kwang-jin, a 27-year-old defector, told The Korea Times.
“As I’m a South Korean citizen, I felt offended to receive such preferential treatment.”
Yeom, who came to South Korea without his parents in late 2001, said he staged a rally along with other defectors out of conviction that the government is actively stripping male North Koreans of their right to undertake military duty.
Under the Military Service Act, all-able men over 18 are subject to conscription, but a “person who has immigrated from north of the Military Demarcation Line” may be exempted “upon his request.”
A growing number of North Koreans are finding that the two-year mandatory tour provides a pathway to mainstream Korean society, where draft dodgers and those excluded from conscription are often viewed as second-class citizens unfit for responsible jobs.
“The government should stop discriminating against North Korean defectors and depriving them of their right to live as ordinary citizens,” he said.
Kang Song-chul and Heo Bong-il, North Korean defectors aged 19 and 20 respectively, claimed that their counselors, social workers hired by the state-run North Korean Refugees Foundation, “took care of military matters.”
The two claimed that their counselors advised them to give up military duty after they received a physical examination for the draft and told them they would keep them off from the enlistment list during a phone call.
They also refuted the Military Manpower Administration's (MMA) claim that North Korean defectors can be excluded from military service only when they file an application form which has their signature on it.
“Officials of Hanawon (Settlement Support Center for North Korean Refugees) told us that we’d better stay away from the military,” Kang said. “I have never signed an exemption form, but managed to remove my name from the enlistment list in a phone call with my counselor.”
A Unification Ministry official said it is possible that counselors have submitted exemption applications for North Korean defectors without collecting signatures.
“A large number of counselors are inexperienced and are not fully aware of the legal rights of North Korean defectors,” the official said, noting that the nation’s some 100 counselors were hired in 2010 after undergoing only a month of training.
An official of Hanawon admitted that North Korean defectors may feel deprived of their right to serve in the military because the majority of them ended up signing an exemption form during their 12-week stay in the support center.
“I bet quite a few North Korean defectors forget what they have signed during their stay here since there are so many things they do during such a short period of time here,” she said.
The Hanawon official pointed out that all North Korean defectors subject to military service have thus far agreed to sign an exemption form before they leave Hanawon, the first stop for defectors arriving in the South.
According to MMA officials, the majority of North Koreans file an exemption application during their stay at Hanawon and that North Korean defectors cannot reverse their decision once they file an application form.
North Korean defectors claim that Hanawon has never mentioned that their decision would be irreversible.
MMA claims that 1,765 defectors exercised their option for exemption between January 2008 and June 2012.
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