SEOUL, Feb. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Commemorating the 100th year of the March 1st Independence Movement as well as the establishment of the provisional government of the Republic of Korea, military service members will be replacing their camouflage patches of the South Korean national flag with the original ones. On Monday, the Republic of Korea [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Onew, the lead vocalist and eldest member of K-pop boy band SHINee, joined the armed forces on Monday to fulfill his mandatory military service, taking a hiatus from his long K-pop career. “I come to a temporary break,” Onew, whose real name is Lee Jin-ki, said in a hand-written [...]
DAEGU, Dec. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — A 25-year old South Korean who got a tattoo to avoid military service was sentenced to one year in prison with two years of probation, and was ordered to carry out 160 hours of community service work. The accused has been getting tattoos since 2006 and continued to do [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that religious and conscientious beliefs are to be considered valid reasons for refusing the military service mandate, overturning its decision from 14 years ago. In a 9-4 vote, the full bench led by Chief Justice Kim Meong-su delivered the decision and ordered an appellate [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — A task force composed of officials from the Military Manpower Administration and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism with the goal of improving the process of military service exemptions for artists and athletes was launched on October 1. Controversy surrounding the current system was sparked during the 2018 [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Korea Bizwire) – When the Korean national team won the finals in men’s soccer and men’s baseball at the Jakarta Palembang 2018 Asian Games, some of the players had one more reason to rejoice than just the gold medal – an exemption from military service. The legitimacy of the prize, which provides [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — The military manpower agency will conduct a full review of the active-duty military service exemption system, its chief said Monday, amid controversy over dozens of athletes benefiting due to their wins in the latest Asian Games in Indonesia. Calls have persisted for an overhaul of the decades-old system to [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — There is a high chance that alternative civilian service, a form of national service offered in lieu of formal conscription due to conscientious objection, is set to be fixed at 36 months. Employment at prisons and fire stations is highly likely, where recruits serving their national service will be [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Jo Kwon, a member of K-pop boy band 2AM, bade farewell to his fans Monday as he joined the armed forces for the nearly two years of mandatory military service. The 29-year-old was to enter a military boot camp in Gangwon Province on Monday to start off the military [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Koreans are torn over expanding military service exemptions for athletes, a poll showed Monday. In a survey of 500 adults by Realmeter, 47.6 percent said they were for creating more ways for male athletes to be exempt from conscription. The poll showed that 43.9 percent said they were [...]