Why Are Only Men Conscripted?

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

South Korea's Military Law imposing the duty of national defense solely on men has been challenged in a court hearing.

A man filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court, claiming the law conflicted with the right to equality, which is protected under the Constitution.

The court had a public hearing on this issue Thursday, with the date of a ruling yet to be fixed.

Lawyer Chae Hyeong-seok representing the petitioner said, "The Constitution stipulates the duty of national defense is comprehensively applied to men and women alike. But the Conscription Act mandates only men to undertake military service, which is unconstitutional."

Chae said physical strength had been a key factor imposing the duty solely on men, while exempting women from the obligation, but this was no longer applicable.

"The physical strength of soldiers was important in conventional wars. However, state-of-the-art weaponry is much more valuable these days, meaning it's unnecessary to limit conscription to men," he said.

The lawyer said the government runs a variety of community service programs through which women can also contribute to defending national security, insisting that mandating women to fulfill the duty in that way was a possible answer.

Lawyers representing the Ministry of National Defense refuted the allegation, saying what they consider first is how to maintain military strength, not gender make-up.

Sung Seung-hwan said, "Enhancing the military by having well-trained soldiers and high-end weapons is much more efficient in maintaining national security than just increasing the number of female soldiers who may be physically weaker to male soldiers."

Women should be taken care of because they deliver babies, Sung said. "With the birthrate plunging, encouraging women to have more children is much more valuable than imposing military service on them," he added.

Prof. Chang Young-soo at Korea University's College of Law, said, "Reaching a social consensus on this issue should come before deciding whether women should be obliged to serve in the military."

"Every Korean citizen has a responsibility to defend national security. Therefore, this is what should be discussed at the National Assembly alongside comprehensive research on relevant factors," Chang said.

Source

Comments

[-ochre.livejournal.com]

O so the men want equal rights now.

OIC.

[beautifiers.livejournal.com]

lol ikr.

SO THAT'S HOW IT WORKS.

[chasedbytime.livejournal.com]

lol irl. what a joke.

[olabusayo.livejournal.com]

woah, thats kinda intense...imagine if women had to do mil service for 2 years as well...military would be overpopulated and homes would be empty...

@ochre...ikr?!

[czarny.livejournal.com]

No I don't think so =/ They wouldn't all be doing military service at the same time, and there are more people in the population than that age group cohort.

[yuseo.livejournal.com]

THIS.

[mo-chan-tf.livejournal.com]

THIS.

[pon-pon-pink.livejournal.com]

For some reason i agree.
i've always believed that military service is against equality. Some say women should also have the duty, but i'd rather have men to decide whether they want or not.
And this comes from someone living in Germany where this military service stuff isn't as bad as it is in Korea.

[czarny.livejournal.com]

Yeah the men don't *have* to do military service in Germany if they don't want to right? They can just do like community service instead?

[breathe-ai.livejournal.com]

yeah, well when Korea stops exploiting their actresses and paying their women equal wages then we'll talk.

[a-ma.livejournal.com]

"The physical strength of soldiers was important in conventional wars. However, state-of-the-art weaponry is much more valuable these days, meaning it's unnecessary to limit conscription to men,"
This kind of true, but you still need stamina just to get through the training.

In my country military service is mandatory for men, voluntary for women, and I think it's fine the way it is.

[pon-pon-pink.livejournal.com]

why should it be fine that way? what if some guy is against war and everything and does not want to go to the miliary. Why should he HAVE to go? it should be voluntary for both genders everywhere, and the military can't say "we won't get people anymore" cus that's wrong. There are enough guys who'll do it voluntarily anytime and more and more women as well D:

[aprettyeternity.livejournal.com]

?!
I see their point but how about...correcting...other things first, Korea.
o.o No srsly.

[maisoui.livejournal.com]

....IDK, they should make it voluntary. It seems like a lot of people here in the States want to join the army because of the awesome benefits they get (minus the bummer of having to fight in any wars, they pay for your education and stuff. I don't know what much, but it seems like the army takes care of ya pretty well).

Forgot to include:
encouraging women to have more children is much more valuable than imposing military service on them
OIC. So that's what women should be concentrating on. Not that having families isn't important, but still.

[fadeintoyou.livejournal.com]

I agree. It should be voluntary but the whole benefits thing is kind of ify for me. I might just be talking out of my ass but couldn't it be argued that with the whole benefit incentive thingy...doesn't that put low income people at a disadvantage & bring into question class statuses? Some people who abhore going to war may join the army just because they have no other way to earn a living. Again, I'm probably talking out of my ass cause I have no statistics or anything..just based on personal experience. In high school, I moved around alot & atteneded 3 separate schools. 2 of the schools were ur typical suburban schools with plenty of money infused into the school. The third school was the ghetto-est school in the district. That school always had receuiters there trying to recruit the students to join whereas the other 2 schools...I never saw 1 single recruiter.

Anyways, what I'm trying to say is.... Voluntry is the way to go but the added benefits as incentives is questionable to me.

[xxsmiiles.livejournal.com]

All of a sudden they throw equality at the women's faces lol.
I don't think some of these women will even last in the military... in particular, the women of the entertainment industry...

[czarny.livejournal.com]

Well not those in entertainment no, but bear in mind they are not a valid representation of most Korean men and women :P

I know a fair few Korean women who are made of steel.

[mrsedjack.livejournal.com]

Women should be taken care of because they deliver babies. i dunno, but that sounds kind of fun. 8D they deliver babies. huh. true, but. still sounds funny.

at what age are men usually conscripted / when can we expect boyband members to disappear for military service / how many years does dong bang shin ki have left? :|

[candy-phobia.livejournal.com]

They have to enlist before they hit 30/are 30.

[czarny.livejournal.com]

lol well in North Korea women have 5 years of military service, NK men have 15 years. South Korean men do 2 years AFAIK.


In a lot of other countries like Israel, Greece and Germany they have the same rule about only choosing men but you can get out of it in Germany by doing community service instead :D.

[candy-phobia.livejournal.com]

15 YEARS?? And I thought 2 years was really long.

[hoyah.livejournal.com]

:/ obligatory military service doesn't sit right with me in general - how about instead of making it obligatory for women, too, they make it voluntary for men?

as others have pointed out, let's also try talking about the other areas of inequality between men and women that should be discussed

[mrsedjack.livejournal.com]

not sure that it's possible to make it voluntary, considering the tense relations between north and south korea at the moment. :| i think the government probably want as many men in the military as possible.

[breathe-ai.livejournal.com]

...Now that I think about it, it also depends on what sort of 'military training' they go through...some of it isn't physical at all, just desk work. That's what my dad did :/

But still, they shouldn't complain if they're not going to give women equality in other aspects of life.

[hoyah.livejournal.com]

i think you still have to be in shape/keep fit even if you are only doing desk work, right? maybe it's less intense for some...? i think my former roommate who did his service said everybody had to do a lot of physical exercise, though.

[iheartomntd.livejournal.com]

sometimes people, i.e, Korean mean confuse the hell out of me. Where was this when a woman's dignity was stripped because she dared to show her battered face in public? Where was this talk about equality, when her children were basically raped of their inheritance when these bastards sued the hell out of a dead women.

[honeebs.livejournal.com]

Hell yeah get to work ladies .. .stop being all weak and stuff!
I kid I kid ~not really.
3 year vet -it isn't that hard.
You can stock pile chic clothes, and your street shoes keep that new look and feel.
That was for those posh girls out there.

[pickychu.livejournal.com]

What would happen to the children that a married couple may have when they go off to the military? Someone has to stay and take care of the children. They probably couldn't have the children's auntss or uncles take care of them since brothers and sisters are generally around the same age. Either keep it the way it is or make it voluntary for men.

[czarny.livejournal.com]

I think you're thinking of a far too traditional family setting, and besides they have to do it before they're 30 and not all that many people would have children before then these days.

Anyway there are plenty of ways to get out of military service and I think one of them is having a child.

[devourlove.livejournal.com]

SK can take some of America's babies. There's a new one born every second over here =__=;; we're going to fall off the sides of the continent in a couple of years.

In seriousness, though, the equality thing :I ...If equality should be allowed military-wise, it should be applied in every aspect. Honestly, the military would do some women some good, I would think.

And about the voluntary enlisting, I honestly don't think the majority would agree to enlist if it were an option, so it's probably best to keep it the way it is. If SK had a little more distance from NK (say, US distance), then I'd be all for volunteering, but the country has to be defended, and if I have to sacrifice DBSK making music so the boys can defend their homes, so be it ;~;

[finalfantasyo13.livejournal.com]

a little ot, but totally read this as "why are only men consipated?"
FAIL on my part..:(

[super-genin.livejournal.com]

Hey! that's not nice you know!
uuuuurgh my tummy! *brb going to the toilet*

[youngbinkoo.livejournal.com]

Bro, I can't imagine Korean females being conscripted into army training, I mean LOOK at Korean girls: they're petite and so waif you think their bones will break if you touch them. And all that sun will damage their skin and break their plastic fantastic noses etc...

Then again, Korean males are like that too.....esp the ones that shave their legs XD

[nene718.livejournal.com]

Well, one man can get multiple woman pregnant while a woman can only be pregnant once at a time. Basically, you need enough women around if you want to keep the population. And before you start drafting women into the military, make the basic things equal.