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SEOUL (South Korea) – The South Korean Supreme Court on Thursday acquitted a man who refused to serve in the army because of his religious beliefs, a decision that should affect the fate of more than 900 conscientious objectors who refused compulsory service in the country's armed forces.
For decades, South Korea has asked all able-bodied men to serve in the armed forces and has granted only few exemptions as part of a conscription system considered essential for defending his country against North Korea.
He called the military service a patriotic duty and punishing those who refused to serve was uniform and severe. Every year, South Korea has sent hundreds of young men, most of them Jehovah's Witnesses, to prison on the basis of the Military Service Act, which provides for up to three years' imprisonment. those who refuse to serve without justifiable reason.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court for the first time accepted for the first time "conscience or religious beliefs", overturning a decision of the lower court in which a Jehovah's Witness was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
The country's Constitutional Court had already opposed the practice of imprisoning conscientious objectors for decades. In June, he found unconstitutional the inability to offer alternative forms of civil service to conscientious objectors and gave the government until the end of next year to introduce the possibility of providing alternative services, like working in prisons or fire stations.
But the fate of conscientious objectors already tried was put on hold until the Supreme Court decision on Thursday.
"Today's decision is comforting nearly 20,000 conscientious objectors in South Korea who have been facing the stigmatization of former convicts for 65 years," said Hong Dae-il, spokesman for the country's Witnesses. Jehovah in South Korea.
Even before the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, lower court judges had recently shown themselves less and less willing to send conscientious objectors to prison.
Since 2004, lower courts have tried 118 innocent conscientious objectors. Many other lower court judges have been slow to adjudicate cases pending, seeking an authoritative decision from the two highest courts.
So far, South Korea has prosecuted more young men for conscientious objection than any other country, and it is one of the few to have treated it as a crime without offering a different national service . Amnesty International and Jehovah's Witnesses say that more than 19,300 South Korean conscientious objectors have been in prison since the 1950-53 Korean War.
The South Korean border with North Korea is the most heavily armed border in the world, and the two countries are still technically at war. North Korean men usually serve in the country's army for a decade. Some South Koreans fear that the legalization of conscientious objection will undermine the country's national defense.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has been working to ease military tensions and tighten ties with North Korea. When Mr. Moon Meeting with Kim Jong-un, leader of North Korea, in September, they agreed to institute no-fly zones and impose a military-training halt near their land and sea borders from Thursday.
Addressing the National Assembly on Thursday, Moon said that during his three summit meetings with Mr. Kim this year, he "completely eliminated the danger of military clashes" and has paved the way for stronger economic and other links with North Korea. He also said that he hoped that Kim would keep his promise to travel to Seoul "soon".
"It's an opportunity that has come as a miracle and we should never miss it," he said.
Moon lobbied Washington and his conservative opponents at home to push back inter-Korean relations before North Korea began dismantling its nuclear weapons program.
South Korea and the United States have agreed to coordinate their approaches regarding North Korea. But Seoul wants to quickly tighten inter-Korean ties to boost confidence and encourage North Korea to denuclearize, while Washington insists on applying sanctions as a means of pressure against the North. Unless these sanctions are lifted, Mr. Moon's room for maneuver to expand inter-Korean relations is limited.
