Extract

Vice-Chair on Communications, United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The author is grateful to Ethan Hee-Seok Shin, Research Fellow at the Transitional Justice Working Group in the Republic of Korea, for his thoughtful comments on this article. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this article does not contain information relating to any communication or request for review currently before the Working Group. The article provides information about the Working Group’s jurisprudence, but does not suggest any action that the Working Group may take in any specific case in future. The views expressed are those of the author alone.

1. INTRODUCTION

The criminalisation of conscientious objection to military service has a long history and has been a common practice, particularly in countries that are experiencing conflict or those that perceive that conflict may occur in future. Until recently, the Republic of Korea has been among the countries that imprison conscientious objectors, arguing that longstanding tension on the Korean Peninsula necessitates the imposition of compulsory military service to safeguard national security. Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, the Republic of Korea has imprisoned conscientious objectors to military service at an alarmingly high rate, with over 19,300 young men sentenced to a combined total of more than 36,700 years in prison.1 Most of these conscientious objectors are Jehovah’s Witnesses and were conscripted in their early twenties. They reportedly face economic and social disadvantages lasting beyond their typical 18-month sentence, including limited career prospects due to their criminal record, difficulties in marrying and being ostracised from family and community members.2

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