Dozens of children of senior government officials gave up their Korean nationality in a bid to evade military conscription in the last five years, a report by the state conscription agency showed Tuesday.
According to the report submitted to Rep. Ahn Gyu-baek of the Democratic United Party for the parliamentary inspection, 33 children of incumbent senior officials were exempt from military service from March 2008 to July this year as they chose to hold citizenship of foreign countries, including the United States, Canada and Japan.
Among the officials were chiefs of public organizations, state-funded universities and local governments, according to the Military Manpower Administration.
As South Korea does not allow adults or foreigners living in the country to hold multiple citizenship, those who obtain foreign citizenship through birth in other countries or after emigration must choose a single nationality by the age of 22, or automatically lose their Korean nationality.
In Korea, a country technically still in a state of war with North Korea, all able-bodied men aged 18-35 must complete at least 24 months of military duty. The military draft is a sensitive issue and draft dodging by the sons of influential politicians and opinion leaders has often damaged or ended their careers.
The number of Korean residents who were exempt from military service for nationality reasons totaled 3,745 in 2009, 4,174 in 2010 and 3,470 in 2011, the report said. In the January-July period this year, 1,547 residents were not conscripted because of holding a different nationality. (Yonhap)