S. Korean top court rules religious belief valid reason for refusing military service

Conscientious objector Oh Seung-hun talks to reporters outside the Supreme Court, southern Seoul, Thursday, after the court overturned a lower court ruling that found Lee guilty of breaking the country's military draft law for refusing mandatory military service. / Yonhap

By Lee Suh-yoon

Korea's top court recognized the right of people to refuse mandatory military service for their religious and conscientious beliefs in a landmark ruling, Thursday, creating a powerful precedent that could spare hundreds of young men from prison sentences every year.

A 13-member bench of the Supreme Court overruled an appellate court ruling that sentenced Oh Seung-hun, 34, a Jehovah's Witness follower who refused to serve in the military, to 18 months in jail, sending the case back to the lower court for a retrial that is likely to follow the top court's decision.

“Punishing conscientious objectors is an overly harsh restriction on their freedom of conscience as well as a threat to their basic rights,” Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su said in the ruling. “It also goes against the spirit of liberal democracy of tolerating and embracing minorities. Thus, the bench's majority opinion is that conscientious objection is a justifiable reason for refusing military service.”

The court said the authorities would have to see whether the objectors' belief is true, by assessing their family background, school life and other social experience, a comment that acknowledges concerns that people may misuse the verdict by pretending they are Jehovah's Witness followers or belong to other religious groups.

All able-bodied Korean men between the ages of 18 and 35 must complete around 18 months of military service. Those who refuse can be sentenced to up to three years in jail under the Military Service Act. Around 20,000 conscientious objectors, mostly Jehovah's Witness followers, have been jailed in Korea since 1950 — more than any other country in the world.

Thursday's ruling is against the top court's earlier decisions that found the defendants guilty for violating the military law, with the latest decision taking place in 2004. It will likely affect some 930 other conscientious objection cases pending in courts nationwide.

The ruling is also in line with an earlier decision in June by the Constitutional Court, which ruled it was unconstitutional to not offer alternative options — such as civilian forms of service — to conscientious objectors.

The Ministry of National Defense is currently drafting alternative service systems and set to announce them next Tuesday.

Four of the 13 justices were against the decision, saying it can be a benefit to people believing in a specific religion. They also said it was a matter of state policy that should be resolved through the adoption of alternative services.

“I thank the Supreme Court's brave decision,” Oh told reporters after the ruling. “I know the public is worried that some people could take advantage of the alternative service system. I will carry out my duties faithfully during my alternative service to dispel such concerns.”

Park Sang-wook, another conscientious objector who just finished serving a 15-month jail term last month, also came to see the historic ruling. “I hope no one has to go to jail again for following their conscience and sympathizing with others' pain,” Park said.