All South Korean men aged between 18 and 35 must perform military service, but the Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that the government must provide alternative civilian roles to those who refuse to take up arms for religious or other reasons. policies.
"The state can no longer delay the resolution of this problem," said the court in a 6-3 ruling finding that section 5 of the Military Service Act was unconstitutional because 39, he offered no non-military option.
He gave the government and Parliament until the end of 2019 to revise the law.
South Korea imprisons more conscientious objectors than the rest of the world, according to Amnesty International, with hundreds of prisoners each year, many of whom are Jehovah's Witnesses who refuse to serve because of their beliefs religious.
Conscientious objectors are currently in prison, the group said. Most receive sentences of about 18 months, but may suffer lifetime discrimination once released.
In a statement after the decision, Amnesty International researcher Hiroka Shoji said that "conscientious objection to military service is a human right"
"The conscientious objection It is not a crime and we urge the government to In addition, all conscientious objectors should see their criminal record cleared and young men languishing in prison should be released immediately and unconditionally, "said Shoji.
Compulsory Service
Under current South Korean law, all men between the ages of 18 and 35 must complete at least 21 months of military service. The Department of Defense has promised to reduce the sentence to 18 months by 2020.
The law derailed the careers of many of the country's biggest sports stars and K-Pop artists, with Big Boy , a very popular group. recently so that its members can perform their military service.
Many members of the South Korean men's national team, who eliminated this week Germany out of the World Cup, could be forced to join the army, although several petitions have been deposited on the official website of the Maison Bleue. – to provide football players with an official exemption.
Those who do not have the chance to benefit from a presidential pardon have adopted more radical measures: many young men intentionally take or lose weight, simulate a mental illness, get tattooed all over the place. body or self-mutilate in order to obtain an exemption. Yonhap News Agency
Surprising medical inspections may be ordered for anyone suspected of changing weight, and persons found guilty of attempting to avoid service may suffer legal repercussions.
In the past, there have been massive public criticisms of those, such as the children of public servants, who have managed to find loopholes to avoid military service.
Yoo Seung-jun, a very popular singer in the 1990s, had to give up his career in South Korea after being accused of avoiding military service by becoming a US citizen. It is still forbidden to enter South Korea.
Objection of Principle
While most South Korean men, willingly or because they have exhausted all other possibilities, are finally performing their military service, for some, this is not an acceptable option.
South Korea is a country still at war, after a 1953 armistice that ended fighting on the peninsula has never been converted into a formal peace treaty. While significant steps have been taken to remedy this, through the meetings of Moon and US President Donald Trump with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, serving in the military potentially means receiving military service. order to fight and kill.
This is unacceptable to pacifists or those whose religious beliefs prohibit such action, but until the Constitutional Court renders its decision this week, conscientious objectors risked imprisonment if they refused. to serve in the army.
"Many conscientious objectors are punished twice as government-related organizations and many private companies refuse to hire candidates with criminal records," said Baek's attorney Jong-keon, himself incarcerated for 12 months. , written last September.
Gender Relations
Beyond the objections to violence, South Korean men have another very valid reason for seeking to avoid military service: the army is known for hazing and abuse many recruits.
In 2014, President Park Geun-hye called for action after photos of the bruised and bloodied body of a 20-year-old soldier were taken. He was beaten and abused every day for a month.
The difficult experiences of many servicemen have been at the heart of an anti-feminist reaction to the #MeToo movement in South Korea by human rights groups, even though the country has made some progress in the Fighting Sexual Harassment James Turnbull, a Busan-based expert on Korean feminism and popular culture, said that this reaction is "massively motivated by perceived injustice" that men perform their military service while women do not do it.
But he said that their time in the military is largely responsible for the negative attitudes and behavior that the #MeToo movement seeks to eradicate.
Korea ranks 118th out of 144 countries in the World Economic Forum's 2017 Global Gender Gap Report, and women are severely underrepresented in politics and business. "It is hard to overemphasize the role of the army as a" socializing agent "for young men, said Turnbull, many of whom join the military straight out of the" dark side ". university and have little interaction with women during this period except female K-Pop groups. that occur in the basics.
"This vision of women and men-to-women relations that the combination begets – that the role of men is to do important work for the nation, while women must stay apart offering their support, especially by their juvenile and sexual looks availability – is ubiquitous in everyday Korean life. "
CNN's Ella Ha and Yoonjung Seo contributed to this report in Seoul, South Korea.
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