End of military exemptions back on agenda after Asian Games criticism

A military parade during Armed Forces Day on Sept. 28 in 2017. Cheong Wa Dae Joint Press Corps

By Jung Da-min

The Ministry of National Defense is moving a step closer to abolishing military exemptions and alternative service, according to an official, Monday.

“To recruit troops without a setback due to a decrease in military service resources, we need gradually to reduce or eliminate alternative service,” Choson Ilbo quoted a government official as saying. “We will start discussions among the ministries after internal reviews.”

The Ministry of National Defense first raised the prospect of phasing out the exemptions by 2022 in 2016, citing a “demographic cliff.” The ministry estimates that military resources will lack 20,000 to 30,000 people in 2023, around time when those born in 2002 will join the military.

If the alternative service is abolished, the increase in active resources would be about 28,000 the same number as there was in alternative service personnel serving in various fields such as industry, professional research, embarkation, arts, sports, public health or public law service.

The Ministry of National Defense is also gradually abolishing conversion services such as marine police, conscripted police or fire fighters. The conversion service as conscripted police, in particular, will be wholly scrapped by Sept. 2023. About 25,000 have served as conscripted police each year, among about 29,000 of those on conversion duties.

On Monday, Commissioner Ki Chan-soo of the Military Manpower Administration also said the administration would toughen military exemption rules for athletes and art performers.

Ki Chan-soo. Korea Times file

“We feel it is about time to look at the military exemption system, after the recent controversy,” Yonhap quoted Ki as saying. “We are planning to review military exemption for athletes and art performers as a whole.”

Ki's comments come amid controversy about military exemptions stemming from the Jakarta Palembang 2018 Asian Games.

A total of 42 athletes ― among them 20 football players including Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur, and nine baseball players ― have been granted military exemption.

According to military service law, athletes granted with the privilege of being public service workers are: all winners of Olympic Games events; gold medalists at the Asian Games; first and second place winners at international art competitions; and the winners of domestic art contests.

However, the standards for granting such a privilege to sports people and art performers are being questioned, with questions about transparency in selecting national representatives and the limited fields of sports and arts.

The baseball team for the 2018 Asian Games, in particular, received criticism for including some “underperforming” players.