Military struggles to adapt for conscientious objectors

Human rights activists from civic organizations hold a press conference, Dec. 28, 2018, to condemn the government's plan for alternative service for conscientious objectors announced the same day, in front of the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

South Korean military is struggling to prepare for alternative service for conscientious objectors. The National Assembly National Defense Committee recently approved bills to implement alternative military service system for those who do not wish to serve in the military on mostly religious grounds. All able-bodied South Korean men must complete about two years of compulsory military service.

The approval came around a month ahead of the Dec. 31 legislative deadline for the bills which require conscientious objectors to serve alternative duties for 36 months at correctional facilities like jails. They will stay at such facilities for the three-year period for their alternative service to keep a form of a camp with other draftees who are on the active list.

The bills have brought controversy as critics say the three-year period for conscientious objectors' service is “punitive” as it is much longer than the mandatory military service of others on the active list who serve around 18 to 22 months and that of those on other alternative services in public sectors or industries who serve around 21 to 23 months.

Considering the move, the bills for conscientious objectors also include a separate rule that their military service period can also be reduced within the limit of six months, in accordance with changes in the period of military service for those on the active list.

Starting January, those who apply for alternative service as conscientious objectors will be judged by an expert panel of 29 members including lawyers, scholars, psychiatrists, human rights activists from nongovernmental organizations, high-level government officials.

The issue of alternative service for conscientious objectors is likely to continue as human rights groups are calling for further improvements such as reducing the service period and widening the options of the service place from the current corrective facilities.

The establishment of an alternative military service system for conscientious objectors, however, marked South Korea's first such legal system for them after the country's Constitutional Court made a ruling, June 28, 2018, that recognized the need for such a system for the first time. Months later on Nov. 1, 2018, the Supreme Court acquitted a conscientious objector providing grounds for others like him.

Further efforts to embrace religious diversity are likely to come in the near future, as President Moon Jae-in has recently said he would establish support measures for multicultural families and children to prevent discrimination against specific religions, including improving the environment for conscripts such as providing for religious dietary needs. Moon made the comments during a Nov. 19 televised question-and-answer session with 300 selected civilians aired by a South Korean broadcaster MBC.