The Normalization of Universal Male Conscription in South Korean Society and the State Regulation of Draft Evasion and Conscientious Objection: 1950–1993

Abstract

This paper traces the history of conscientious objection and draft evasion in Republic of Korea, from the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 to the end of the militarized regimes in 1993. Much focus will be given to the process in which universal male conscription was established and solidified as a social norm in South Korean society. It was during the Korean War period when universal male conscription began to be negatively perceived as a “poor man’s draft” and led to rampant draft evasion that the Syngman Rhee regime (1948–1960) failed to control. The normalization process began during the militarized regime of Chung-hee Park (1961–1979), when social impetuses were established alongside hegemonic masculinity and gender hierarchy to necessitate the completion of compulsory military service for men to function in society. It also coincided with the increased criminalization of draft evasion, as well as the persecution and stigmatization of religious conscientious objectors in South Korea, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Seventh-day Adventists, who were viewed indifferently from draft evaders. The negative labeling of draft evader and conscientious objectors as social deviants was also a state-led initiative to solidify universal male conscription as a social norm. This process was supported by the implementation of a national surveillance system which made possible the intensification of a nation-wide crackdown on draft evasion and conscientious objection. Much of the historical narrative will be analyzed using Foucauldian approaches to disciplinary mechanisms; in this case, normalization, surveillance and delinquency. The successful implementation of these disciplinary mechanisms perpetuated the normalized existence of universal male conscription and the persecution of its objectors, and its firm standing in South Korean society exemplifies the power of normalization.