Resuming religious activities as enlistment approaches... Court "cannot be regarded as conscientious objection to military service"

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A court has ruled that conscientious objection to military service cannot be recognized if you postpone your military enlistment and resume your religious activities that you had stopped for years as the time for enlistment approached. 

According to the court today (18th), the 9th division of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Court (Chief Judge Yang Kyung-seung) broke the first trial of acquitting A (28), who was charged with violating the Military Service Act, and sentenced him to 10 months in prison and 2 years of probation. I did.

Person A was handed over to trial on charges of refusing to comply with the enlistment notice of the Military Manpower Administration again in October of the same year after receiving a suspension of prosecution for refusing to enlist once in April 2019. 

He was classified as a target for active duty service in the military service screening test in 2013, but it was revealed that he had delayed his enlistment for reasons such as college admissions, preparation for qualification tests, national examinations, and illness.

It has been confirmed that Mr. A, who first started a religious life as a teenager, has not participated in religious activities since March 2017, but returned to religious activities around April 2019 when he received his first notice of enlistment.

In response, the court of first instance acquitted Mr. A, who stood before the court, saying, "The defendant's refusal to serve in the military appears to be based on true conscience, and it is difficult to believe that the absence of conscience is proven only with the evidence submitted by the prosecutor and the circumstances claimed by the prosecutor."

However, the Court of Appeals decided otherwise.

The court of appeals said, "Although the accused had been baptized in the past, he did not engage in religious activities between 2017 and 2019 because of his modeling activities that had nothing to do with his faith."

"The defendant did not disclose the specific motive for resuming religious activities until the time he received the last postponement of enlistment or when he received the first notice of enlistment," he explained.

In the end, the court of appeals found guilty, saying, "It is difficult to say that the accused has faithfully participated in religious activities or that his religious beliefs have been firmly formed, and it cannot be seen that his conscience is deep and firm and sincere as a desperate and concrete objection to military service." I did.

This is a result of conflicting with the decision of the Supreme Court in a similar case recently. 

In March, the second division of the Supreme Court (Chief Justice Lee Dong-won) acquitted a man in his 30s who had been charged with evading military service (violation of the Military Service Act) by participating in religious activities from the time he received a notice of enlistment after suspending religious activities for nine years. A single trial court has been affirmed. 

The court of appeals in the case overturned the first trial and acquitted the defendant, saying, "The defendant has been converted since 2018, and has returned to his religious life by attending Bible studies and regular meetings." The Supreme Court also upheld this judgment.