The Just Military Human Rights Institute, the “First Korea Citizens’ Coalition to Uplift the Republic of Korea” and other groups held a discussion meeting on January 16 at the National Assembly Building in Yoido, Seoul, at which they maintained that Jehovah’s Witnesses’ logic of “conscientious objection to military service” is a verbal frame for the avoidance of military duty, and that unless the National Assembly changes the law, it is proper to punish those who evade military service.
Im Cheon-yeong, former supervisor of judicial affairs for the Ministry of National Defense, said, “Suppose someone says, ‘Paying taxes violates my conscience,’ and refuses to pay taxes; how will this make other citizens feel?...Likewise, the refusal of military service is bound to evoke in others a sense of deprivation, inequality and contradiction.” He expressed concern: “The alternative service system for a particular religion, set up in the name of protecting minority rights, is being used as a tool to avoid military service; it will be criticized for its inequity and will lower soldiers’ morale.”
Lee Jeong-hun, a professor of law at Ulsan University, explained, “The appeal by Jehovah’s Witnesses for recognition of conscientious objection is lacking in the legal philosophical sense of universal, objective conscience…The law of the Republic of Korea recognizes the right and benefit of choosing one’s own religion; it does not guarantee the satisfaction, even the fickleness, of becoming a Jehovah’s Witness to evade military service.”
Eum Seon-pil, a professor of constitutional law at Hongik University, added, “Under the constitutional system of the Republic of Korea, which has no provision for special treatment of persons refusing enlistment in active military service for reasons of conscience or religious freedom, it is not unconstitutional to punish those persons.”
Reporter Paek Sang-hyun (100sh@kmib.co.kr), with Marion Kim (marionkkim@icloud.com)
Photo by senior reporter Kang Min Seok
Full Story in Korean:
“국회가 법을 고치지 않는 이상 병역회피에 대한 형벌부과는 정당”: 바른군인권연구소 등 국회서 토론회
“Unless National Assembly changes the law, it is proper to penalize evasion of military service”
2018-01-17 16:07
