South Korea's Supreme Court Recognizes Conscientious Objection To Military Draft

According to AFP, South Korea's Supreme Court yesterday-- by a vote of 9-4-- ruled that religious and moral beliefs are valid reasons to refuse the country's military conscription. The ruling, which overruled prior precedent, came in the case of a Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objector who had been convicted by lower courts. Refusing the draft has typically resulted in an 18-month prison term. Some 19,000 conscientious objectors have been jailed since 1950, with 96 currently in prison.

Court Tells South Korea To Halt Publicizing Personal Information On Conscientious Objectors

The Hankyoreh yesterday reports that South Korea's Military Manpower Administration is publishing the personal information of religious conscientious objectors on its website. The paper says:

Since last year, the Military Service Act has mandated that a registry be kept identifying those who refuse to report for service without a legitimate reason. But critics have pointed out that presenting those who refuse to serve because of their pacifism or religious beliefs as if they were deliberate draft dodgers subjects them to double punishment....

When the MMA published the personal information of conscientious objectors on its website in Dec. 2016, 105 individuals filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Administrative Court asking for the publication decision to be reversed and another lawsuit asking for a stay of execution on the publication until the court made its decision in the first case. In May, the ... Seoul Administrative Court ... ruled that the publication of their personal information should be halted until the final legal decision, citing “concerns that irreparable damages could be incurred.”

Despite the stay of execution ordered by the court, the MMA included conscientious objectors among the draft dodgers whose personal information was published once again this year. In response, 252 individuals filed the same lawsuit once again..... On Dec. 19, ... the Seoul Administrative Court... once again ruled that the publication of the plaintiffs’ personal information should be halted until the court makes its ruling.