The
Korean Army: The Necessity of the Conscription System
You can easily find news about North
Korea; the headlines, ‘North Korea Readies Its Nuclear Weapons’ appeared in the
Toronto Star on March 3, 2016.
Recently, North and South Korea have agreed to suspend hostilities. South
Koreans are relatively safe and currently living in peace, but nobody knows
when the Korean war will begin again. So, most South Korean men have to go to
the army. It is considered their duty. However, I believe that the South Korean
government does not sufficiently reward those who serve their two years in the
army.
South Korea, officially known as the
‘Republic of Korea,’ is a liberalized country as the United States, and North
Korea is a communist country similar to China and Russia. South and North Korea
are ethnically one country. However, due to certain historical events, such as
Korean War, they are known to be different countries.
Currently, Korea is the only divided
nation in the world. The Korean War caused the most unprecedented destruction
and national despair ever recorded in Korean history. It took place from 1950
to 1953. The United Nations and the Republic of Korea Armed Forces suffered
approximately 500,000 casualties and the Communist Forces lost about 1,500,000
~ 2,000,000 lives. During the war, about 2,500,000 refugees had to abandon
their homes, some moving from North Korea to South Korea others moving from
South Korea to North Korea. Millions of Koreans disapproved the Communist
regime of North Korea and escaped to the South which led to 10 million people
being separated from their families.
The Korean War Armistice Agreement,
which was signed in 1953, ended with a ceasefire and it is still technically in
force. At the time when the ceasefire agreement was signed, the parties
concerned decided on three months of ceasefire and planned to end the war with
political negotiation. The negotiation, however, has never been successful. As
a result, we are still preparing to protect our nation against the danger of a
war.
Due to the potential aggression
between the two countries, it is mandatory for every Korean male to serve in
the military for two years. I am eighteen years old, have Korean Citizenship
and am studying in Canada. Because I am not a Canadian Citizen or Permanent
Resident, I have to return to Korea to serve in the Korean Army before the age
of twenty-five even though I am studying in Canada. That is the reason why I
cannot extend my passport once I am twenty-five years old. But, is it indeed
necessary for South Korean authorities to force people who study in foreign
countries, like myself, to serve in the Korean Army?
I was hoping that our
countries—South and North Korea—could become one because the relationship
between them was getting better. However, at 9 p.m. on April 26, 2010, the
South Korean warship “the Cheonan” was sunk. Shortly after, we realized that
the North Korean Navy was responsible for its sinking. As reflected in the news
article in the Toronto Star and the
Cheonan warship case could potentially set off a war between South Korea and
North Korea. Therefore, South Korea needs an army, but it does not need to
enforce the conscription system.
South Korea has the third largest
population among the Asian superpowers of China and Japan, and there are many
individuals who could maintain the number of soldiers needed. Only a few
countries, such as Korea, Iran, Russia, and Israel, enforce the conscription
system. Germany stuck to conscription after unification, but reduced the
service period to nine months while raising the proportion of volunteers.
France replaced the draft with a volunteer military system in the 1990s and
Italy followed suit in 2003. Also, the United States which is one of the
strongest countries in the world, instituted a volunteer military system.
Other problems are revealed when we
compare the benefits between the Korean Army— conscription system—and the
United States Army—volunteer military system. The average Korean soldier
receives 130 dollars per month and 90,000 dollars for funeral subsidy, but the
United States soldier receives 2,266.50 dollars per month and 800,000 dollars
for a death benefit. After being discharged from the military service, there is
no support given to a Korean serviceman, but an United States serviceman can
get up to 70,000 dollars in educational fees, no cost for medical and dental
care including their family, and 380,000 dollars for retirement pay.
Suicide in the army is another
concern. Every year, about eighty people, 0.01 per cent, commit suicide in the
Korean Army because of army violence. In other countries, suicide in the army
usually happens because of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which
involves exposure to trauma, either involving death, the threat of death, or
serious injury. Army violence in the Korean Army happens because of strict
rules based on the conscription system. The violation of human rights in the
Korean Army is a very serious problem nowadays. One example of this problem is
demonstrated through the case of Private Yun, who died from an assault on April
4, 2014 while he was having a meal. This assault caused him to stop breathing,
ultimately leading to his death. Army violence is the physical and mental
violence in the military forces. In the army, servicemen must unconditionally
obey their senior officers and violence occurs if anyone goes against them. No
parents would want their sons to go into the army if they knew how violent
things could get, and how it could lead their sons to commit suicide.
Let us compare a man who willingly
joins the army training for five years, and another man who joins it by force
for two years. Who would get a better result one on one? If there is a battle
between the people who have a will to fight and others who fight by force, who
will have a better outcome? The person who has motive always receives a better
result than a person who does not have it.
Furthermore, when comparing the
power of conscription versus the volunteer military system, which is more
powerful? The answer is the volunteer military system. If a country which
enforces a conscription system has a war with another country that institutes a
volunteer military system with same number of people, the country that
institutes a volunteer military system will win. Historically, the United
States-led coalition invaded Iraq in 2003. Millions of Iraqis were drafted to
fight with them, however, Iraq lost in the war by several hundred thousand of
the United States Army soldiers.
Modern war is not fought as much by
soldiers as it is fought by skilled engineers with advanced hardware. That is
the reason why South Korea does not have to insist on a conscription system.
South Korea does not need people, as soldiers, especially who study in a
foreign country. It would be better if South Korea, as well as other countries
that enforce a conscription system, changes to a volunteer military system. If
this occurs, army violence and suicide rates will decrease, the soldiers who
choose to go to serve in the army will be satisfied, and the quality of the
increase making them more like elite troops. If you were a parent and your son
died at war as nothing but an expendable asset, would you still insist on the
conscription system?
Work Cited
Kim, Hyung-Jin. “North Korea Readies Its Nuclear Weapons.” thestar.com, 3 Mar. 2016,
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2885150058065075344#editor/target
=post;postID=1509519909820296809passes-new-sanctions.html.
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