hankyoreh

By Lee Seung-jun　　

On Jan. 20 2009, the day of the Yongsan Tragedy, Choi Ki-won, a senior economics major at Seoul National University participated in a commemorative assembly for the victims of Yongsan Tragedy. There, he witnessed a younger student sustaining injuries to the head by police during a crackdown on the Yongsan incident. He was heartbroken to see the younger student’s father, who was a surgeon, operate on his own son. He said, “I wondered why such incident had to happen. It was painful to watch.”

Choi, 27, held a at a press conference to proclaim his conscientious objection to military conscription in front of the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul’s Yongsan District on Nov. 1. During an interview with the Hankyoreh, he remarked, “At the thought of my parents, I faltered in my resolve. However, I affirmed my decision by recalling the bitter memory from two years ago.” Nov. 1 was the day the Military Manpower Administration designated he begin military service.

Until recently, he had been teaching low-income children while developing his interests in social justice issues. Claiming that he did not deny the necessity for public authority, he said, “While having witnessed the tragedies caused by the state-sanctioned violence such as Yongsan Tradegy and the conflict in Gangjeong Village on Jeju, I thought serving in the military went against my conscience, since it would force me to participate in or support state-sanctioned violence. I wanted to protest against it,” he added. “My grandfather was drafted into the military by the Japanese during the Japanese colonial period. My uncle who is a Vietnam War veteran still suffers from the after-effects of the Agent Orange. Having witnessed their suffering, I started to believe that there should be no more war.”

“This year, amendments for the military service law including alternative services have been proposed. The National Assembly must discuss this proposal deliberately. Going further, community service systems that can make social contributions such as flood damage repair and public services must be adopted,” he said.

Currently, about 800 people are in prison for conscientious objection to military service.

(Translated by Kim Min-ji, Intern)　　　 　

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