It has been a year since the Supreme Court, while handing down a guilty sentence on a conscientious objector, noted the need to adopt a program where men could opt for alternatives to military service. A month later the Constitutional Court formally recommended the same idea to the National Assembly. A year has passed, however, and there is still no real discussion. No small number of young men have chosen prison instead of the military during that time. As of July of last year there were 432 men in prison for conscientious objection. As of the end of last month there are 1,040.
Those who oppose alternative service claim that it could be used as a means of draft evasion and make those serving in the military feel a relative sense of deprivation. The government’s response to a UN Human Rights Commission inquiry last May can be understood in that context, when it said "it is still too early to adopt an alternative service program, considering the need for fairness in military conscription and insufficient national consensus."
Such worries are excessive if you think of the examples of other countries. Taiwan started allowing alternative service in 2000, and they say that alternative is widely understood by the public to be considerably more difficult than regular military service on top of the fact that the period of service is longer. Taiwan decides alternative service applications through a careful review process, making sure the military does not run short of conscripts. The case of Taiwan demonstrates that having various checks in place can easily prevent negative side effects from an alternative service program. There is no reason to resist starting such a program in Korea while giving hundreds of men criminal records every year, especially when such programs are working just fine in countries that respect human rights.
Korean society holds military service to be a sacred obligation, but it must recognize the sanctity of the conscience of individuals who refuse to take up arms for political or religious reasons. Alternative service is a form of compromise for those two views about conscription. The National Assembly must legislate alternative service immediately.
The Hankyoreh, 15 July 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Hurry With Alternatives to Military Service |
