Is gold medal equal to exemption grom military service?

Military service exemption system for athletes and artists, which provoked a controversy over the recently-ended 2014 Incheon Asian Games, was under the scrutiny on Friday during the parliamentary inspection on the Military Manpower Administration by the parliamentary committee on national defense.

“As some baseball players confessed they participated in Asian games despite injuries, strong criticism is mounting that ‘playing in the national team’ is abused as a way of exempting from military service,” Saenuri Rep. Song Young-geun said. “There is criticism that the gold medal is ‘military service exemption medal,’ and a fairness issue has been raised since athletes of team events receive the same benefit as athletes of individual events, while the former play for a short time compared to the latter.”

“As winning a medal at authoritative sports competitions such as the World Championship has not been recognized (for military service exemption), there have been continuous requests for improvement in the imbalance between popular sports and others,” New Politics Alliance for Democracy Rep. Jin Seong-jun said. “Revised bill of Military Service Law must be passed in the National Assembly, which makes it mandatory for artists and athletes exempted from military service to donate their talents (voluntary services).”

Regarding such claims, Military Manpower Administration Commissioner Park Chang-myung said, “Since current military exemption system started in 1973, circumstances have changed and public emotions have been changed. By monitoring public opinions and gathering comments from related organizations and agencies, we need to review the system that can be accepted by both the public and athletes.”