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story in Korea Herald about how nyuug dodged military service
| full-time AI slop consumer | 10/12/25 |
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Date: October 12th, 2025 3:53 PM Author: full-time AI slop consumer https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10587846
Since 2021, nearly 20,000 men have renounced Korean citizenship before serving in military Yoon Min-sik Published : Oct. 1, 2025 - 14:41:52 Some 60 percent choose US citizenship
A total of 18,434 men renounced South Korean citizenship in recent years before serving mandatory military duty, according to a Military Manpower Administration data revealed Wednesday.
From 2021 till August this year, a total of 12,153 men of conscription age relinquished South Korean citizenship to take citizenship of another country, according to the report by Rep. Hwang Hee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea based on MMA data. Another 6,281 with dual citizenship gave up their South Korean citizenship in the same period.
South Korea mandates all able-bodied men to serve in the military for at least 18 months, either in the form of combat duties or alternate service.
Men who reach the age of 18 are categorized as conscription candidates, and those who renounce their citizenship after this age without fulfilling their military duties are legally considered draft-dodgers.
The Nationality Act says in the Article 9 that those who relinquished citizenship in such cases are banned from regaining South Korean citizenship.
"There needs to be stricter standards about relinquishing citizenship, since it can be used as a means to avoid military duty. … There should be measures to induce military duty for those born with dual citizenship, along with support for people that fulfill their duties," Rep. Hwang said.
Of the conscription age men who renounced South Korean citizenship, 12,231 (66.4 percent) are now US citizens. The next most common citizenships were Canadian (12.4 percent), Japanese (8.6 percent) and Australian (4.5 percent). The proportions are roughly similar among the total 120,000 South Koreans who gave up their citizenship over the same period.
Renouncing South Korean citizenship in the face of military draft has become a sensitive issue, largely due to the high-profile case of Steve Yoo, also known as Yoo Seung-joon.
The popular singer in the 1990s publicly pledged to the MMA to fulfill his military duties before leaving the country, but then renounced his Korean citizenship to become a US citizen. He was banned from re-entering the country, and the singer is currently engaged in a long-drawn-out legal battle to have the ban lifted.
Yoo has won multiple cases against the government's decision not to issue him a visa, but the rulings did not nullify the Ministry of Justice's entry ban imposed on him in 2002.
In a rare decision two decades ago, the ministry imposed a ban on grounds that Yoo entering the country is likely to harm the interest and public security of South Korea.
Its logic was that showing tolerance on such actions by a man with Yoo's social status is likely to have negative effects on law-abiding Koreans, and their willingness to serve.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com |