Conscientious objectors released on parole are greeted by their families at the Daegu Detention Center in Daegu, South Korea, on Nov. 30, 2018. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Regarding the Supreme Court ruling that found conscientious objectors not guilty of evading military service, prosecutors have come up with detailed guidelines on how to discern “true conscientious objectors,” which is a key legal issue.
According to the Prosecutors’ Office, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office distributed the guidelines yesterday to all prosecutors in the nation.
The guidelines are meant to weed out applications for conscientious objection that are baseless. The guidelines state that the beliefs of conscientious objectors must be “deep, firm and true.”
In regards to this designation, the Supreme Court, in its ruling, noted that the life of an individual must be “totally under the influence of such beliefs and does not easily change.”
The guidelines distributed by the prosecutors’ office have several check points such as to whether the religion specifies conscientious objection and whether the religion regards the individual as a recognized follower.
In addition, prosecutors were told to check for actual religious practices of the objector as well as his or her family background, upbringing and school life.
H. S. Seo (hsseo@koreabizwire.com)
