By Kang Seung-woo
Several ruling party members and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF) strongly opposed Thursday a move to give incentives to job seekers who completed their mandatory military services.
They are Saenuri Party lawmakers Kim Hyun-sook, Kim Hee-jung, Kang Eun-hee, Kil Jeong-woo and Lee Jasmine, all of whom belong to the National Assembly’s Gender Equality and Family Committee, and Cho Yoon-sun, minister of the MOGEF. They held a meeting at the Assembly and voiced against the plan being pushed by the Ministry of National Defense (MND) and the National Defense Committee.
“The incentive system for reservists was ruled to be unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court in 1999. An attempt to reintroduce it will stir up backlash from women and disabled people, while leading to social conflicts,” said Rep. Kim Hyun-sook in a briefing.
Saenuri lawmaker Han Ki-ho last year proposed awarding reservists an extra 2 percentage pints of the total score on exams for government organizations, civilian employee positions in military installations and private entities with the proportion of beneficiaries not exceeding 20 percent of total recruitment.
But under a new proposal suggested by the MND as an alternative to Han’s, the proportion of beneficiaries would be lowered to 10 percent.
The proposals claim a Presidential decree should restrict the number of times extra points could be awarded.
The system was initially introduced in 1966 to help military veterans easily adapt to civilian life. But following the Constitutional Court’s declaration that said such system is “unconstitutional” because it discriminates against women and the disabled, it was abolished in 1999.
In Korea, all able-bodied men over 20 are required to serve in the military for about two years under the country’s mandatory conscription system.