With no alternative, conscientious objectors face jail time

Posted on : 2011-02-14 13:47 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
The Lee Myung-bak administration reversed a court-recommended alternative service when it took office
Baek Jong-geon
Baek Jong-geon

Baek Jong-geon, 26, goes by the e-mail ID “lawyerbaek.” He created the account during his days in the college of law while he was preparing for the judicial examination. Baek harbored dreams of joining the legal sector since childhood, when he heard stories from his grandfather, a former prosecutor. In 2008, he passed the examination, and in January he completed studies at the Judicial Research and Training Institute (JRTI).

In February, his classmates went their different ways to positions such as judge, prosecutor, attorney, and military judicial officer. But Baek chose a different route: jail. On Feb. 10, the day of military service intake for judicial officer candidates, he declared his conscientious refusal to perform military service. It was a first for a successful judicial examination candidate.

If sentenced to eighteen months in jail for violation of the Military Service Act, Baek‘s legal future will quickly become bleak. He will not be able to gain employment as a judge or prosecutor or register as an attorney for five years after his release. Even ordinary company positions offer no guarantee.

Baek, however, could not abandon his religious convictions. He is a Jehovah’s Witnesses, a religion that refuses to take up arms.

“I am merely someone who vowed never to pick up a gun based on my faith,” Baek said. “I am willing to do any kind of alternative service that does not involving taking up arms, but at the moment there is no way.”

Meeting with the Hankyoreh on Saturday evening at Kingdom Hall in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Baek looked neat in a suit and tie. Many other members of the faith held his hand and shared their sympathies.

“The oldest son of that woman over there was released a while ago, and the second is serving time right now,” Baek calmly explained. “That other man is on trial right now for refusal to serve.”

As of February, a total of 955 men nationwide were serving eighteen-month sentences for conscientious refusal to perform military service. It is the largest number since conscientious objectors were first subjected to legal punishment. Over the past half-century, some 15 thousand have gone to jail after refusing to take up arms.

Military service was the most pressing concern for Baek over the course of his life. He even considered dropping out during his third year in middle school in order to receive an exemption. He also considered abandoning his plans to take the judicial examination. Each time, he recalled the words of his grandfather, who told him, “Never be ashamed of yourself.”

During the Roh Moo-hyun administration, he appeared at “Dialogue with the People” (now called “A Dialogue with the President”), and said that he was preparing for a conscientious refusal to perform his service. The late President Roh held his hand and said, “Be strong,” an experience that gave him a brief ray of hope.

But the introduction of an alternative service system was put off indefinitely when the Lee Myung-bak administration took office. Baek, who entered the JRTI around the same time, said, “I went through a prolonged slump, and thought that even with good grades, I would be unable to serve as a judge, prosecutor or attorney.”

Members of the legal sector whom he met at the institute showed a great deal of concern for him.

“Judicial officers only do four weeks of military training, so just join and then ask them to omit the firing training,” one advised him.

He also received many words of encouragement from people who said that while they did not agree with his faith, they respected him for standing by it.

When intake day came around last Thursday, Baek stood on the beach watching the sunset and prayed, “Please help me be courageous.”

“Of course I am afraid,” he said. “We even went on a field trip to prison when I was in the JRTI.”

Baek said that while there is no way of knowing how long the trial will take or when he will finish serving time, his goals are clear.

“I do not know when it will happen,” he said, “but I want to become an attorney who works hard for the human rights of minorities, like Korean Public Interest Lawyers’ Group Gong-gam.”

It was around 2004 that discussions began in earnest in South Korea on the issue of alternative military service for conscientious objectors. In 2002, then Seoul Nambu District Court judge Park Si-hwan, now a Supreme Court Justice, recommended a constitutionality ruling from the Constitutional Court on the item in the Military Service Act prescribing punishment for conscientious objectors.

In 2004, the Constitutional Court found the item constitutional in a seven-to-two ruling. However, it also acknowledged the need for a system of alternative military service, saying, “The time has come to hold serious social discussions and find a solution at the national level.” The following year, the National Human Rights Commission and UN Commission on Human Rights issued recommendations to the government to institute an alternative service system.

The Ministry of National Defense announced in September 2007 that it would permit alternative service for conscientious objectors as of 2009, but everything went back to square one in 2008 following the inauguration of the Lee administration. On Dec. 24, 2008, a month ahead of the date for full implementation, the ministry announced that it was “putting a hold on all alternative service.” A number of Constitutional petitions from parties affected by the decision were subsequently lodged and are now being reviewed by the Constitutional Court. Last November, the Constitutional Court began hearings for these cases, but no date has yet been set for a ruling.

By Lim Ji-sun, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

 

Most viewed articles