The report released by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) on September 19 after its suo motu inquiry lasting two months into the alleged human rights violations of young men conscripted as auxiliary police and battle police reveals how these young men have been exploited and ill-treated by the current conscription system. According to the report, three men have shown signs of mental illness and one attempted to commit suicide. The NHRCK has also discovered that assaults and ill treatment result from the institution’s culture and mismanagement and it recommended that epochal changes need to be made in the awareness by the relevant authorities. However, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to point out that the NHRCK has failed to fully understand and realise the actual reasons why the continuance of ill treatment has not been stopped.
As is well known to the Korean people, compulsory military service is considered as a rite of passage among young Koreans and failure to complete the service may result in discrimination in society such as being employed in either the public or private sector. Those who object to military service automatically become criminal offenders after being imprisoned, according to the act on military service, due to the lack of an alternative service. The simple logic is that young men have to adjust themselves to the military environment and if they fail, they are categorised as socially weak and in need of ‘special attention’ in the institutions. This invariably results in ill treatment by their seniors.
It should be a commander or professional police officers in charge of those conscripted to train the conscripts and monitor ill treatment in the institutions but in reality, it is senior conscripts who are given responsibility. There is no way for the juniors to report ill treatment because this common practice is done with the knowledge and consent of the commanders. This practice has been understood as a unique character of the institution and allowed on the pretext for the discipline and order in the police. What makes this worse is that the victims later become the perpetrators as they gain seniority. Quite simply the juniors who have been assaulted or ill treated by their seniors for long periods of time practice the same type of discipline on those who are more junior to them. The question now is how to change the moral of commanders and protect young men conscripted through the system.
The cases found by the NHRCK are only the tip of the iceberg. There are many unsolved cases where young conscripts commit suicide or show mental problems during and after the service in the army and police. In addition, there are many unreported cases due to the lack of protection for those who witness the assault and ill treatment. The witnesses of those cases are afraid of coming forward to testify. It is extremely difficult for a victim or witness to report this common practice occurring in the institution because it is he who is later punished by the commanders. It is a very simple matter to create an excuse to order punishment, the most common being disobeying an order which is very easy to fabricate. Similarly it is easy to instigate others to make a negative report against the victim or defame the reputation for fear that if they do not, they will likely become the victim. Likewise, the victims and witnesses in the police and army are at high risk of further harassment and ill treatment once they make report. Therefore, there is a real need to guarantee protection for the victims and witnesses.
Considering the military and police as closed government institutions, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges the South Korean government to establish independent and competent bodies outside of police and military to investigate the cases reported and punish those responsible. It also urges the government to build up legal and administrative action to provide full protection for those who make complaint so that they can report the assault and ill treatment without fear of further harassment or ill treatment. In this regard, the AHRC urges the government to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (CAT) as a matter of priority.
It is the government which has let young men suffer from the system on the pretext of citing the “unique situation in Korean Peninsular” as its propaganda and created the morale that those who are unable to complete the service have personal problems. At the same time, it has been always a beneficiary from the system by recruiting young men as free labours. If the government insists upon the need to conscript young men it must take genuine steps to eliminate ill treatment and provide protection for the victims and witnesses. Or, recruit professionals, not conscript young men.
