Supreme Court: "No Punishment for Social Service Workers Who Refuse Military Summons Due to Mental Health Deterioration"

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The Supreme Court has ruled that a man who repeatedly disobeyed military conscription orders after his mental health deteriorated while serving as a social service agent should not be punished for violating the Military Service Act.

On the 18th, the Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Lee Heung-gu) announced that it overturned the lower court's ruling, which had suspended a six-month prison sentence for Mr. A, who was indicted for violating the Military Service Act, and remanded the case to the Suwon District Court.

Previously, Mr. A was prosecuted for failing to respond without justifiable reason to a notice from the Military Manpower Administration instructing him to report to the Army Training Center as a social service agent by April 18, 2019.

Mr. A was classified as Grade 4 for military service due to a spinal disease and began his social service agent duties in 2017. He entered the training center for military education but left after a week due to pain, stress, and an attempted suicide. However, Mr. A's mental health further deteriorated, including overdosing on medication.

Mr. A subsequently received several military education summonses from the Military Manpower Administration and postponed training twice by submitting his medical certificates and doctors' opinions. The Military Manpower Administration informed him that further postponement was not possible under regulations and advised him to apply for a change in military service disposition, but Mr. A rejected this measure as unfair.

The first trial court found Mr. A guilty. The court stated, "The defendant was informed that further postponement of conscription was not possible under relevant regulations and that he could avoid disadvantages by applying for a change in military service disposition, yet he took no action and did not comply with the summons. Even considering his illness, there is no justifiable reason for disobeying the conscription."

However, the court also noted, "The defendant's mental health deteriorated unexpectedly while living as a member of society, and he did not originally intend to evade military service," and thus suspended the prison sentence. A suspended sentence is a system that delays sentencing for a certain period for defendants with minor offenses, and if no particular incident occurs during that period, the sentence is waived. The appellate court upheld this judgment and dismissed Mr. A's appeal.

However, the Supreme Court ordered a retrial and reconsideration of the case. The court stated, "At the time Mr. A received the military education summons, he was suffering from a mental health issue requiring long-term treatment. His refusal to apply for the advised change in military service disposition and failure to comply with the military education summons cannot be held as his responsibility," and added, "The lower court erred in its legal interpretation of 'justifiable reason' as defined in Article 88 of the Military Service Act, which affected the judgment."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.