Korea, South

On Monday 13th April, groups across the world took action on military spending. The Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) is now in it's fifth year, and WRI affiliates took action to highlight the huge amounts of money that are wasted on military expenditure across the globe.

In Finland, two WRI affiliates came together to display a banner reading "If we had $1.8 trillion, we'd would #movethemoney to education, renewable energy, healthcare" in multiple languages. Members of South Korean group World Without War are currently touring Europe, met with members of AKL (the Union of Conscientious Objectors), and took part in the action.

In recent years, Turkey has repeatedly abused the rights of protesters with the weaponised use of tear gas at demonstrations. But despite human rights concerns, South Korea has authorised a huge shipment of tear gas to Turkey. On 10 February, Ban Tear Gas Initiative (Turkey), Campaign Against Arms Trade (UK), War Resisters' International and World Without War (South Korea) carried out actions in Seoul, Istanbul and London to stop the shipment!

Daekwang Chemical (hereafter DK) is the largest manufacturer of tear gas products in South Korea. DK was founded 2001 and initially its major area of business was sales of fireworks products. Before DK focused on tear gas business, the company’s sales volume was relatively small. Annual sales volume of DK recorded around USD 1 million.

United Nations

CCPR/C/112/D/2179/2012

Distr.: General

14 January 2015

 

Original: English

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

The first ever international week of action for military-free education and research was held between 25-31 October 2014. This follows on from a day of action last year. Antimilitarists across the world took action to raise awareness, and challenge, the role the military has in education and research in educational institutions. This role gives them access to young people - to lay the groundwork for recruitment later in life, and to promote military values.

Different groups used the week of action in different ways. Some challenged military presence in schools through direct action, some publicly debated the presence of the military in education, others showed films, wrote articles, and campaigned on social media.

Trigger Warning: descriptions of bullying and torture. Two cases of extreme violence in the conscripted Korean military – one mass shooting and attempted suicide, one death by torture – have drawn public attention to the violence conscripts routinely face in the military, with 120 deaths a year occurring among them for the last five years.

Read more at:

Human Rights Asia News

The Economist

Article in The Broken Rifle No 53, November 2003 as part of the South Korean Prisoners for Peace issue.

Jung-min Choi

Only early in 2001 the concept of "objection to military service" became known to the Korean public. A current affairs magazine reported on a forum on the military service system, including the right to conscientious objection. It especially reported on the history of Jehovah's Witnesses CO. Since the formation of the Korean army, over 10,000 objectors (mostly Jehovah's Witnesses) have spent time behind bars. The public has treeted them as nonexistent.

WRI, along with Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists, the International Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Quaker United Nations Office, has submitted an Amicus Curiae opinion on conscientious objection to military service to the Constitutional Court of Korea. This opinion is submitted in relation to the cases bought by six conscientious objectors against the government of the Republic of Korea on the basis of the violation of their right to conscientious objection to military service. The opinion outlines to the Constitution Court the position of conscientious objectors in international law, focusing on recent developments in the UN Human Rights Committee. It is believed that over 10,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses have been imprisoned as a result of their conscientious objection to military service since the year 2000, which gives an indication of the severity of the problem.

Yeo-ok Yang and Jungmin Choi, activists of World Without War, and Reverend Bora Im of Hyanglin Church were put into prison on May 20.

They were sentenced to pay a fine of two million won each (approximately 2,000 USD) for taking a direct action to block the construction of Jeju Naval Base, which had been illegally undertaken without an agreement with local residents.

As the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition 2013 started on 28th October, 22 civil society organizations in South Korea engaged in a series of actions targeting the largest arms fair in the Asia-Pacific region. The coalition organized an alternative exhibition of their own in response to the Seoul ADEX 2013, and named it the Peace and Disarmament Exhibition.

[video:https://vimeo.com/80523277 width:400 height:300]

The Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition 2013 (Seoul ADEX 2013) started on 28th October, 22 civil society organizations in South Korea engaged in a series of actions targeting the largest arms fair in the Asia-Pacific region.

By Seungho

As the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition 2013 (hereafter, "Seoul ADEX 2013") started on 28th October, 22 civil society organizations in South Korea engaged in a series of actions targeting the largest arms fair in the Asia-Pacific region. The coalition organized an alternative exhibition of their own in response to the Seoul ADEX 2013, and named it the Peace and Disarmament Exhibition. While Seoul ADEX 2013 focused on new technology or advancement of weapon systems, the Peace and Disarmament Exhibition put emphasis on the inevitable consequences of the arms trade and tried to unveil the naked face of the arms fair.