Human rights commission recommends exempting conscientious objectors from punishment

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea

NHRCK submits official opinion to Supreme Court : a period roughly 1.5 times the current mandatory military service period

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) submitted an opinion to the Supreme Court arguing that conscientious objection to mandatory military service should be exempt from punishment as satisfying the legal requirement for “reasonable grounds.”

As an alternative service system, the commission recommended a joint living situation for a period roughly 1.5 times the current mandatory military service period for South Korean males.

“To punish conscientious objectors to military service and conscientious objects to reserve training without providing them an opportunity for alternative service is a violation of freedom of conscience,” the NHRCK argued on Aug. 8.

“Conscientious objection meets the criteria for ‘reasonable grounds’ in the different regulations, and on July 31 we submitted an opinion to the Supreme Court arguing that it was preferable to exempt [such individuals] from punishment,” it explained.

“A desirable approach would to be introduce and improve a system in which [conscientious objectors] live jointly for a period corresponding to roughly 1.5 times the current mandatory service period in areas that require a spirit of sacrifice such as patient transport and firefighting duties,” it suggested.

The NHRCK’s decision comes in response to a request for an opinion ahead of Aug. 30 en banc open arguments at the Supreme Court on the punishment of conscientious objectors to mandatory military service. The debate on punishment and an alternative service system has headed up since a Constitutional Court ruling on June 28 finding provisions in the Military Service Act to be in conflict with the Constitution.

Specifically, the court took issue with Article 5-1 of the Military Service Act for stipulating only the categories of active duty, reserve, supplemental, first citizen, and second citizen service without providing an alternative service system.

By Shin Min-jung, staff reporter

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