Posted on 04/09/2014 7:37:18 AM PDT by wetphoenix
Kim Ji-gwan has a succinct explanation for why he, his father, and two brothers all chose to go to jail rather than be drafted into the South Korean armed forces.
“It is very simple,” says Mr. Kim, chatting in a coffee shop in the city’s posh Kangnam district. “Jesus commanded all his followers to love your neighbor.”
In the past, the US and many other countries accepted religious beliefs as grounds for opting out of military service. Not so South Korea, where men still serve a minimum of 21 months in the military.
The UN Human Rights Council reports that 669 of 723 conscientious objectors in jail worldwide as of last November are Korean. And almost all of these prisoners are Jehovah’s Witnesses, an evangelical Christian sect whose members refuse to serve because, they say, the Bible teaches people to "love one another." Since the Korean War ended in 1953, an astonishing 17,549 Jehovah’s Witnesses have gone to jail in South Korea for their beliefs.
South Korea allows some draftees with minor disabilities or special skills to leave military service after completing one month’s basic training. Jehovah’s Witnesses like Mr. Kim and his family would refuse even this option if available to them.
Efforts to change the law so that conscientious objectors can choose alternative service have all failed. And, while public opinion is shifting towards acceptance of this alternative, in a country with 639,000 troops confronting nearly twice as many North Koreans under arms, there may be limited sympathy for conscientious objectors.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Nintendo pajama boy freaks.
JW’s are NOT Christian .... they ARE a sect.
Luke 3
10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”
He also commanded those who ha no sword (the AR-15 of its day) to sell their cloak and buy one. Your oppressor is not the same as your neighbor.
OK I get the conscientious objection thing. There are religions that have a history of it such as those in the Anabaptist tradition. Then there are those who object for their own reasons, not because of the religion they belong to—but they are pacifists of some definition. Then there are those who just don’t have to go. I don’t know how long the US can keep up without having a draft. Just hope the crap really doesn’t start flying more than it has already.
So make these folks work as orderlies or other jobs at VA hospitals or on bases where they don’t have a gun, but still they are doing something for the country.
draft = slavery
if they are born outside of SK they are exemp I think
Pacifist are the parasites of freedom.
That is silly, it reveals that you don’t know what slavery is when you use it for everything, mandatory school, mandatory taxes, having a paid job in the military for a set period.
If you don’t support a draft, you still need to come up with a better argument than “slavery”.
The famous American Army of WWII was 93% draftees.
is there a world war?
today we have have the rainbow peace corps with guns
Another childish post about a very grown up subject.
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