Is a volunteer military righteous move?

Gobau Yeonggam by Kim Seong-hwan is a cartoon of current affairs that had been appeared in the Dong-A Ilbo since 1955. This four-cut newspaper cartoon reflects the modern history of South Korea as evidenced by the fact that the original picture is registered as a national cultural property. The 968th episode of the cartoon posted on Nov. 20, 1957 depicted a story of a man who went nuts with no bback (sponsor). As he went around and shouted the word “bback” repeatedly, Gobau Yonggam guided him toward his statue by telling the man that he would introduce a better “bback.” After carrying the statue on his back, the man shouted, “I have a “bback,” now I have a “bback!”

In Korea, the word “bback,” an intense pronunciation of “back,” refers to a strong background or reliable connection of a person. In his book, The Politics of The Vortex, Gregory Henderson wrote that “bback” was the one derived from English words in a Korean context and meant taking care of other’s business. The word was first appeared after the independence of Korea and widely used during the Korean War. There were the times when people couldn’t find a job or being promoted without connections as the whole society was corrupted. Conscription was one of the examples. If you had a good bback, you didn’t need to serve in military or could be assigned to a relatively easy position at that time. However, it does not mean that such “bback” is disappeared forever.

According to Rep. Kim Jung-ro, a former Army commander, among 25,388 high level government officials of ranking 4 or higher with an obligation to serve in the military, 2,520 persons (9.9 percent) were exempted from the service. Also, the ratio of high level government officials whose sons were exempted from military service was 4.4 percent. It is nonsense to say that government officials and their sons are physically so weak that they cannot fulfil the duty to serve the military. I don’t want to believe that they could be exempted from the service as they had reliable connections. But my confidence erodes considering that one of five main topics of confirmation hearings are the evasion of military service and the story of son of Woo Byung-woo, the senior presidential secretary for civil affair.

There has been much controversy over the volunteer military system proposal of Gyeonggi Province Governor Nam Kyung-pil. Advocates insist that the shortage of military manpower due to the population decrease can be complemented by the modernization of military equipment. However, opponents argue that it is unrighteous idea as the system would create a situation where only the sons in poor families have to serve the military. Adoption of volunteer military system is something that cannot be discussed from the perspectives of job creation or military budget only. For the discussion to gain the public consensus, noblesse obliges, the moral responsibility of the nobles, should be established in the society first.