Korean conscripts prevented from seeing their newborn children

( Photo Sources: L: floridapfe, R: cholmondelly )

Normally I’d be loath to cut and paste such a short article as this without adding extensive commentary, particularly one involving the Korean conscription system and Korea’s low birth rate (albeit only indirectly), but sometimes less is more. From today’s Korea Herald:

The Constitutional Court ruled that the military law barring paternity leave for a drafted soldier is constitutional, officials said yesterday.

The ruling came in response to a petition filed in 2005 by a former military officer who argued the law infringed on his custodial rights. The petitioner joined the military as a commissioned officer in charge of legal affairs in April 2005.

Currently, only professional soldiers and female soldiers are granted parental leave.

“Short-term conscripts go back to civilian society after the set service period. Thus, setting a distinction between those fulfilling their military service and professional soldiers does not infringe on his rights,” the nine-justice court said.

“The military needs to maintain a certain troop level during their service period. Extending the paternity leave system to draftees could result in the weakening of the national defense.”

The court ruling, however, was not unanimous. Seven out of the nine justices ruled in favor of the law.

Kim Jong-dae, one of the two who ruled against it, said, “Whether the soldier is a draftee or a professional soldier, they all need to be equally treated as the law could limit their opportunity to raise their children.”

Able-bodied Korean men older than 19 are obliged to serve in the military for 24-27 months.

Before you start thinking about how extremely strict but not entirely unreasonable the court’s argument sounds, note that Korea’s paternity leave system, only implemented in July this year, provides for a whole three days of time away from one’s job. No, not three months, or even three weeks, but three days. Clearly that’s much too generous for the dozen or so direly-needed conscripts that will be affected each year however.

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