South Korean Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Jehovah’s Witness’ Who Refused Mandatory Military Service
It looks like there is going to be a surge of Jehovah’s Witnesses in South Korea after this court ruling:
South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that moral scruples and religious beliefs are valid reasons to refuse compulsory military service, a landmark change in the court’s decades-long stance on conscientious objection and one that’s expected to impact the fate of over 900 men.
Thursday’s verdict concerned only one defendant, a 34-year-old Jehovah’s Witness named Oh Seung-heon. In a nine to four vote, the full bench ordered an appellate court to retry his case, effectively clearing him of charges that he violated the Military Service Act. (…….)
Conscientious objection has long been a subject of public debate in South Korea.
More than 19,000 conscientious objectors were criminally punished under South Korean law since the 1950s, mostly serving 18 months in jail. A majority of those objectors were Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian sect that bases its refusal to serve in the military on Isaiah 2:4, a part of which reads, “Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”
South Korea’s Supreme Court said Thursday that it “violates the practice of tolerance towards minorities, a spirit of free democracy, to uniformly force the implementation of mandatory military service and criminally charge those who fail to fulfill.” In that sense, the court continued, conscientious objection falls into the category of a “valid reason” not to comply with the military’s call for enlistment. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but the Jehovah’s Witness defendant did say he is willing to do mandatory civilian service. I wonder if there is a religious reason not to be part of the riot police?
Out of the 13 judges that made that decision, 7 of them were Moon appointees, while 5 of them were PGH appointees, with 1 being Lee Myung Bak appointed. So on paper, it was 7 Leftwing judges vs 6 Rightwing judges. The final verdict was 9 to 4 in favor of the defendant. All 7 of the Moon appointees voted not guilty plus 2 of the PGH appointees who didn’t let their political persuasions to affect their verdicts. The 4 judges who voted guilty were all PGH or Lee appointees.
One of the 7 Moon appointees was the judge named Lee Dong Won. His explanation for his verdict was that, especially at this time when there is no threat to the national security, we must respect the rights of the conscientious objectors who are forced to carry out immoral duties against their will. Yes, he actually said there was no threat to the national security.
If serving in the South Korean military is immoral, then what about all the men who served in the past and who are still serving currently? Are they serving and putting their lives in danger for nothing? What this judge’s remarks basically means is that YOU ARE STUPID IF YOU SERVE IN THE MILITARY.
If this is what they’re going to do now, I’d rather see that they eliminate the draft completely, just go completely with a volunteer military and be fair to everybody, not just give special treatments to the few who are using deceptive methods to get out of the military duty.
With the rate of unemployment, maybe voluntary enlistment will increase.
SGT York is rolling over in his grave.
You mean to tell me all I had to do to get rid of those annoy solicitors is put some military stuff on my front lawn?!?
DONE! (and thanks a million…these are the only solicitors who ignore “no solicitor” signs. Which was especially grating when working the night shifts…oh, gee are you still sleeping at eleven AM?!? Yes you expletives I had a 14 our shift and got home two hours ago!)
judges working under the direct control of commie moon.