The National Human Rights Commission of Korea recommends that the Minister of National Defense ensure the right to self-determination for ROK soldiers
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) recommended recently that the Minister of National Defense take measures to protect soldiers’ rights to self-determination and relevance of duties while fulfilling mandatory military service. The Commission’s recommendation also requested that preventative initiatives be implemented to avoid future recurrences. This recommendation comes in response to a complaint submitted by a soldier in March of 2007, who claimed that he was forced to carry out duties irrelevant to his post, including spraying pesticides in military orchards.
The complainant, a 26-year-old male known only as “Kim,” filed his complaint with the Commission arguing, “After I enlisted in January of 2000, I was to be deployed as a military cook in the Air Force Command. However, my post was change and I was to be a member of the orchard management team, and was required to spray pesticides for about two years and four months until my discharge in May 2002. The frequent exposure to chemicals caused me to contract malignant lymphoma. I requested that the military unit confirm my service in order to apply for registration as a veteran of meritorious service with the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, but the unit merely confirmed my service as a military cook.”
The respondent, the military unit in charge of the complainant’s duties, maintained, “Determining whether or not a soldier should be acknowledged as a veteran of meritorious service depends mainly on examinations of available records, including personnel management and medical records. In the case of [the complainant], the relevant records only indicated his duties as a military cook.”
Through investigation, the Commission confirmed that the complainant had been part of a unit mandated to care for an orchard, which is an unauthorized post for a military unit. The investigators were able to obtain statements from those that worked on the orchard management team with the complainant. One statement noted, “[The complainant] was exposed to pesticides more than twenty days a year, or more than sixty days for two years and four months, while serving on the team full-time during his service. He would have certainly inhaled the chemicals while spraying.” In addition, an official of the unit said, “We operated an orchard management team that managed 1,200 persimmon trees and 200 pear trees. The complainant was charged with spraying pesticides regularly during his service with the unit.”
Considering that the duties charged to the complainant were irrelevant to military service, the Commission determined that the respondent had violated the complainant’s right to self-determination and human dignity and value. The Commission concluded further the military unit had infringed upon the complainant’s right to pursue happiness, as guaranteed in Article 10 of the Constitution, and infringed upon the complainant’s right to collect information by refusing to acknowledge the readily apparent fact that the complainant had been ordered to spray fruit trees with harmful pesticides during his military service with the unit, supported by the right to know guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. However, the Commission also determined that it inappropriate for the Commission to investigate the causality between spraying pesticides and the occurrence of malignant lymphoma.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea was established in 2001 to promote human rights education and defend those who have experienced discrimination, or have had a right violated, in Korea. The Commission offers counseling, full investigation and protection for residents, along with educational initiatives for organizations.
