Over 3,400 Korean men decide to drop their nationality each year, suggesting a widespread trend to evade compulsory military service, a lawmaker said Monday.

People’s Party Rep. Kim Joong-ro, a former Army general, said that based on data submitted by the Military Manpower Administration, 17,229 Korean men subjected to compulsory military duty lost or rescinded their nationality from 2012 to July this year.

Among them, 15,569 forfeited their Korean nationality by acquiring a different nationality through long-term residency overseas.

Some 1,660 were those that had held dual citizenship and later decided to choose the foreign nationality before they turned 18. Most of them were those who were born in a foreign country while their parents were residing there for studies or work. Kim did not reveal any corresponding statistics of Korean women who renounced their citizenship.
Most, or 8,747 of former Korean nationals, chose citizenship in the US, followed by 3,077 in Japan and 3,007 in Canada.

Kim explained that 31 of them were related to some 27 high-ranking public officials.

“Those who are able to stay overseas long-term such as by studying abroad generally means that they have parents that can financially support them. ... It is also a big problem that polarization occurs in terms of serving the military,” Kim said.

He added that men who evade the military service by relinquishing their Korean nationality must receive stricter re-entry qualification and restrictions on their economic activities here.

There has been constant debate here by those advocating the necessity of stronger implementation of military service in a country that remains technically at war with North Korea. They are challenged by those who underscore the right to choose one’s nationality and a more flexible ethical measure on those that acquired dual citizenship due to their parents serving the country overseas.

In a different report also released Monday, Kim said that there were 92 high-ranking officials out of 2,520 public servants with grade 4 and above who were exempted from the military service and who also had their sons avoid military service.

These officials held influential positions, including lawmakers, senior judges, chief prosecutors, diplomats, educators and deans of universities, he said.

“We must delve into the situation where news of high-ranking officials and their children being exempted from the military service continuously frustrate the general public,” Kim said.

South Korea began its compulsory military system for men from 1951 upon the outbreak of the Korean War (1950-53).

Recently, some lawmakers and opinion leaders such as Gyeonggi Province Gov. Nam Kyung-pill have reproached the agenda of introducing a voluntary military system, but they are opposed by those that argue it is premature at a time of intensified cross-border tension.

Proponents of the voluntary system contends that a change is needed in preparation for the population decline, such as by providing the soldiers with monthly pay of around 2 million won ($1,800) and increased benefits.

Opponents such as former Saenuri Party floor leader Rep. Yoo Seong-min counter that such a system would create a wider gap among different income groups, with most of the voluntary conscripts being those from lower-income households

The military currently plans to reduce the 630,000-strong force to 520,000 by 2022.

The wait list of military service has been protracting in recent years as young men choose to serve in light of an aggravating job market. As of 2015, some 52,000 men aged between 18 and 40 are currently on the waiting list to enter the military after passing their physical examinations.

While reports vary, North Korea is said to have a force 1.2 million strong through its selective obligatory military system that also applies to women, with the service period ranging from nine to 13 years.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)