I remember a few KATUSA soldiers over the years who lived the majority of their lives in the US, but still went and did their mandatory service to the ROK Army to keep their Korean citizenship. I always had a lot of respect for those who did this unlike some of the Korean males that try to get dual citizenship to get out of their mandatory service requirement:
Michael Cho and his mother.
In May 2011, Michael Cho’s phone rang while he waited for an elevator in his freshman dorm. His mother was calling to tell him his conscription letter had arrived — from the South Korean Department of Defense.
Cho, a Georgetown University student born in South Korea, was raised in Sydney, Australia. But South Korean Conscription Law requires males between 20 and 30 to serve for a minimum of 21 months to maintain citizenship.
So, in the fall, Cho went to South Korea, jumping right into the regimented, rigorous drills and daily life of a South Korean soldier.
After a grueling five-week boot camp, Cho’s commanders selected him to patrol the DMZ — a dangerous demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North Korea and South Korea. Every soldier routinely took shifts patrolling the border. [USA Today]
You can read the rest and see a video at the link.
South Korean golfer Bae Sang-moon smiles as he prepares to report for military duty in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, on Nov. 17, 2015. All able-bodied South Korean men are required to fulfill military draft, and Bae was charged in February with violating the law for not returning after his overseas travel permit ran out. The court in July refused to extend the permit. (Yonhap)
South Korea loses Division (-) size element of Soldiers every year to people giving up their citizenship to avoid mandatory ROK military service:
More than 16,000 South Korean men have relinquished their nationality to avoid the mandatory military service in recent years, an opposition lawmaker said Monday.
A total of 4,386 men opted for foreign citizenship in 2014, up from 3,470 men in 2011, said Rep. Jin Sung-joon of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, citing data of the Military Manpower Administration submitted to the National Assembly for an annual audit.
In the first seven months of this year, 2,374 men gave up their nationality to avoid the military service, Jin said.
By nationality, most men became citizens of the United States, followed by Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Jin said. [Korea Observer]
You can read the rest at the link, but it was an interesting statistic that 10% of Koreans in public service successfully avoided completing their military service obligation.
Unsurprisingly more and more Koreans do not believe in the mandatory service required of all males to defend the country:
More parents hope their sons can skip compulsory military service, which they consider a waste of precious years in their young lives.
According to a recent survey, seven out of 10 respondent or 70.2 percent, said they would encourage young men to “tough it out,” but the percentage was much smaller among people under 50.
Some 40.2 percent whose sons are nearing conscription age said they would prefer them to be exempt if possible. The proportion was slightly bigger among mothers than fathers with 42.5 percent as against 37.9 percent.
In a similar survey by a high school in Busan in August, 38.1 percent of respondents said they want to avoid conscription if possible. Only 34.5 percent agreed that military service is inevitable at a time when the nation remains divided, and even fewer or 27.4 percent agreed that it is “natural and honorable” to serve in the military.
That suggests some 70 percent do not see the point.
Asked why they do not look forward to their military service, 39.5 percent cited the hard life in barracks, 32.3 percent violence and bullying, and 28.2 percent said it would be a waste of time. [Chosun Ilbo]
There has been baby steps in the past to professionalize the ROK Army, but the fact that the ROK government is able to maintain such a large force for little money is going to be hard to change because a professional army is expensive. Just ask the Pentagon.
Here I was thinking that transgender people wanted to have their junk cut off?:
A South Korean transgender woman Wednesday lodged a human rights complaint against the military for forcing her to undergo genital surgery in order to be exempted from military duty.
The 22-year-old trans woman went through a mandatory medical checkup for the draft in 2012. She submitted a medical report that confirms a “crisis in sexual identity” and documents on her cross-sex hormone therapy to apply for a military exemption.
The Military Manpower Administration (MMA), however, rejected it, saying she would need to present convincing evidence that she would never be able to become a man again.
She had no choice but to undergo an orchiectomy and was exempted from the military duty in October 2013.
“The MMA demanded her to come up with an irreversible proof, obviously referring to the surgical removal of testicles,” Yun Da-rim, secretary general of the Korean Sexual-Minority Culture and Rights Center, told the Korea Observer.
“Those who receive military medical checkups are in their early 20s and many of them simply cannot afford to have genital surgery. Can you imagine how much an ordeal a transgender woman has to suffer to live with male conscripts?”
Yun argued that trans women should be exempted from their compulsory military duty without undergoing genital surgery as no measures have been taken to protect the rights of sexual minorities in the barracks. [Korea Observer]
You can read more at the link, but if you still have your male body parts than you are a male and should do your mandatory military service like every other male. Letting transgender people dodge mandatory service without the surgery would lead to non-transgender people claiming they are transgender to avoid mandatory service as well. The ROK military needs a standard and clearing have male body parts is a pretty clear standard.
This is probably the first time I have heard of Koreans unhappy with one of its national teams winning a gold medal:
The South Korean baseball team Sunday clinched the gold at the Incheon Asian Games, but a lot of people here seem to have more reasons to mock their achievement than celebrate or be proud of it.
They think players will enjoy greater benefits than they deserve — exemption from the country’s mandatory two years of military service. Ironically, their gold has also led to fierce discussion about abolishing such rewards to athletes.
“I wish they lost the game,” 29-year-old baseball fan Park Tae-yang said. “I do not understand why Korea, in the 21st century, still has to give military exemption for athletes on the grounds that they help promote the country.”
Such harsh feelings against the national team are also based on the fact that South Korea is the only country that sent professional baseball players, who appeared desperate for a military exemption, and let them compete against teams consisting mostly of amateur players. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but it does seem kind unfair to all the other males in Korea that they have to do their mandatory service obligation while these professional athletes now will get out of it because they blew out a bunch of Asian amateur baseball teams.
