Ahead of a new Nationality Law that would require males to first complete their military service before giving up their citizenship, the number of people seeking to give up their Korean citizenship is drastically increasing. These were people who were abusing the current law that said if you filed to give up your citizenship before the age of 18, you could avoid doing military service. They say the number of people registering to give up their citizenship, which used to be limited to one or two a day prior to the passing of the law by the National Assembly earlier this month, was 140 in Seoul on Tuesday alone. This is an explosive figure. A few years ago, they brought international shame upon Korea by using special brokers to give birth to children abroad, and now they are even abandoning their nation in order to avoid their military duties.
When you look at things by age, sex and the occupation of their parents, it’s even more serious. Many of the parents of these mostly 13~17-year-old males were businessmen posted abroad, professors and researchers. These are the wealthy who can live in our society without envy and their sons who can live with honor. Looking at their behavior, the common people who raise their children and obediently send them off to the military cannot help but feel furious and greatly deprived.
In the age of globalization, anyone has the right to choose his or her nationality. Regardless of whether he or she was born in the U.S. out of expediency or not, if someone was given U.S. citizenship based on the territoriality principle of U.S. law, it’s up to he or she to decide which nation’s citizen he or she shall live as. Parents also have a responsibility to take care of their children’s future. Yet for them to avoid the law and have their children give up their citizenship in order to avoid military service is excessive affection. The children who give up their citizenship will also experience serious confusion over their identities, as they won’t be Koreans, but not foreigners, either.
There are even calls by some to accept only some of the citizenship abandonment applications. This isn’t desirable, however, as it could be a serious infringement of the personal right to choose one’s citizenship. The thing we must rush to do is to supplement the new Nationality Law so that those giving up their citizenship to avoid military service do not profit from their decision. We must also work to improve our pre-modern military culture and remove the causes of draft dodging.
The Hankyoreh, 12 May 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (EIP)]
[Editorial] Lamentable Abandonment of Citizenship by Draft Dodgers |
