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<\/p>\nJang Kyeong-jin remembers as a child visiting his uncle in prison, knowing one day he would follow him there.<\/p>\n
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Like an estimated 100,000 people across South Korea, Mr. Jang\u2019s family are Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses. Members of this Christian denomination believe they must abstain from conflict and make up a substantial proportion of conscientious objectors around the world.<\/p>\n
In South Korea, a country\u00a0still officially at war with its nuclear-armed northern neighbour, where conscription is mandatory for all men between the ages of 18 and 28, this has long been a problem. Since the 1950s, some 19,000 Koreans, mostly Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, have been jailed for refusing the draft \u2013 more than in any other country.<\/p>\n
This changed in 2018, when the country\u2019s Constitutional Court ruled that the government must offer alternative civilian service (ACS) for conscientious objectors. Four years later, however, activists say the ACS system is akin\u00a0<\/b>to\u00a0<\/b>the\u00a0<\/b>prison\u00a0<\/b>sentences\u00a0<\/b>conscientious objectors were\u00a0<\/b>once\u00a0<\/b>forced to serve, with\u00a0<\/b>participants required\u00a0<\/b>to work and live in correctional facilities for 36 months, twice the time conscripts spend in the military.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current alternative service period \u2026 is not in line with international human-rights norms, which require the nature of alternative service to be \u2018non-punitive,\u2019 \u201d said Kyusuk Cho, a co-ordinator at the Seoul-based Center for Military Human Rights Korea.<\/p>\n
While South Korea has slimmed down its military somewhat in recent years as part of a modernization effort, it still maintains an active force of more than 500,000 soldiers, with an additional 2,750,000 reservists.<\/p>\n
With the vast majority of South Korean men performing military service, it is often seen as a key rite of passage, and some question whether it can be done away with, given the ever-present threat from North Korea, whose active-duty military is almost three times the size.<\/p>\n
Reports of poor living conditions for conscripts, as well as stories about entertainers and sports stars having to put their careers on hold to perform military service, has seen public opinion shift somewhat in recent years.<\/p>\n
Polling by Gallup Korea in May, 2021, found that 43 per cent of respondents were in favour of switching to a volunteer military, while 42 per cent supported the status quo. Previous surveys had found majority support for conscription.<\/p>\n
Before 2018, 400 to 800 people a year were charged with refusing the draft. One of these was Mr. Jang, who was fighting prosecution when the Constitutional Court handed down its judgment.<\/p>\n
He is due to begin alternative service this year but said the system that has been put in place is \u201cvery different from my expectations\u201d and more of a punishment than a true \u201calternative to military service.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, the Asia-Pacific Association of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses (APAJW) said those taking part in ACS \u201cperform the same work as convicted prisoners did when they were punished as conscientious objectors \u2013 and under very similar conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Jang considered refusing ACS, but after years of court battles, he worried about the effect it could have on his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is difficult to go on trial again, not knowing when it will end and if I will be convicted as a criminal again,\u201d he said. \u201cTherefore, I had no choice but to apply to be transferred to alternative service, which is a little less harsh than imprisonment in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n
The APAJW argues the current system goes against international human-rights standards for religious freedom and is not in keeping with the Constitutional Court\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n
In that case, judges warned that \u201cif the duration or severity of alternative service is excessive to the extent that conscientious objectors find it difficult to perform, this would defeat the purpose of the alternative service or degrade it to a mere form of punishment, causing violations of other fundamental rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
David, a conscientious objector who is not being identified by The Globe and Mail because he is currently performing his alternative service, said he had been heartened by the 2018 ruling: \u201cI will no longer have to be a criminal for following the teachings of the Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the current system meets \u201cthe minimum conditions for alternative civilian service\u201d because the tasks objectors are required to perform are \u201centirely unrelated to military activities.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he added that there were still many similarities with military service, including being \u201cunder strict control.\u201d And being forced to work in the same prisons conscientious objectors were once inmates in makes the system feel punitive.<\/p>\n
For some conservative South Koreans, the system is not harsh enough. After the 2018 ruling, a group of lawmakers put forward an amendment that would force conscientious objectors to perform 44 months of service, including mine sweeping and other dangerous activities.<\/p>\n