China News Service, October 19. According to a report by South Korea’s "Joongang Ilbo", surveys show that over 80% of South Korea’s renunciation of Korean nationality in the past five years are young people under the age of 20.
Some analysts pointed out that “According to the Nationality Law, dual nationality holders can only apply for renunciation of nationality before the age of 18. If the international conditions for renunciation of dual nationality holders are relaxed, this is likely to be abused as a means of evading military service.”
On October 18th, according to the “dual citizenship renunciation situation” presented by the Korean Ministry of Justice, Lee Sangmin, a member of the Common Democratic Party under the Korean Foreign Affairs Unification Committee, stated that 13,433 dual nationality holders renounced South Korea during the five years from 2015 to 2020. Country of Citizenship.
Among them, the proportion of 11 to 20 years old reached 83.7%, accounting for the largest proportion.
The following are 0 to 10 years old, accounting for 10.5%; 21 to 30 years old accounted for 5.4%, and those over 31 years old accounted for only 0.3%.
Mr Lee Sang-min analyzed and pointed out that “most renunciations of nationality are young people under the age of 20. This is mainly because according to the Nationality Law, dual nationals can only apply for renunciation before the age of 18.” Recently, the Korean Constitutional Tribunal ruled that this clause is unconstitutional, and the conditions for renunciation of nationality for dual nationals have also been clearly relaxed. This may become a means for people to avoid military service. "The conditions for renunciation of nationality should be relaxed for those with dual nationality at birth. Formulate detailed rules, rather than relax conditions across the board."
On October 8, the South Korean Constitutional Tribunal ruled against A who holds the nationality of South Korea and the United States on the suspicion of “excessive restrictions” regarding the obligation to choose nationality in the Nationality Law, indicating that the relevant provisions are unconstitutional.
The Korean Military Service Law stipulates that men who have reached the age of 18 will be enrolled in the reserve. The Nationality Law stipulates that as of March of the year when they reach the age of 18, dual nationals can choose one of their nationalities. If they have not made a choice before then, they will have to You must not give up your Korean nationality until you are 36 years old when you have fulfilled the obligation to perform military service.
This clause has also been submitted to a constitutional petition before, but the Constitutional Tribunal stated on November 30, 2006 and November 26, 2015 that the clause is not unconstitutional.
After the Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the clause is unconstitutional, the Korean government must amend the question clause before September 30, 2022.
It seems that the South Korean government is expected to appropriately relax the policy of giving up nationality based on giving priority to those who hold dual nationality at birth, rather than choosing to relax the restrictions on giving up nationality across the board.