Essay #2 (Rewrite)

Sun Woo Kim

Prof. Kyle Brebner

IERW (4)

4 December 2015

Military Service is Not Only for Men

             Did you know that Korea is the one of the few countries in the world where only males need to take two year mandatory military service? In Israel, women are required to go military the same as men do, showing an opposite aspect compared to Korean system. Ultimately, the regulation of men’s mandatory military service is one of the debatable issues in Korea society between men and women. While males express their dissatisfactions with the existence of the long term military system, women assert that it is a reasonable policy for males who are born in Korea. In my opinion, military service should be compulsory to both men and women in Korea, because women also have responsibilities to protect the country, it is unfair for only men to experience difficulties in new environment after their service, and men’s absence due to service brings negative aspects in economic development in our society.

            First, it is not only men but also women’s duty to protect our nation, so it is unfair for men to take all those burdens. The main reason for requiring military service is to increase the military power in order to be prepared for North Korea’s attack. However, what will women do if the war really occurs in Korea? Since women are not trained for the attacks, they just need to be dependent on men. To be honest, I would like to join the army and protect myself and my family instead of waiting for other’s protection. Therefore, women should also be part of the military service in order to protect the nation and themselves without men’s help. In the past, one congressman named Ku Baek Ahn stated that women should at least learn some medical treatments and prepare for immediate escape for the sudden attacks from the enemy. Hence, because of the physical disadvantage compared to men, it will be better for women to perform their duties of protecting the nation by learning practical education of War Readiness in a replacement of military service.

             In addition, long term military service causes male facing the difficulty in adapting into unusual environment which is one of the biggest disadvantages after their return from the military. To be more specific, it is an obvious fact that males who served for two years in isolated areas will face challenges in the ordinary society, probably taking time to adapt to the new environment. To support this statement, there is a data from YTN New which reported that about one third of college male students rest for one semester after their return from military service. One male student said that he has been so exhausted from spending his time in isolated areas where there are no media, freedom, or entertainment. He expresses that he has been oppressed for two years, and this eventually resulted in the difficulty and confusion of facing a different environment. On the other hand, women will have enough time of actively participating and receiving chances in the society while men serve strenuous military service in isolated area. Therefore, because of the extreme stress that males feel after their military service, Korea should equally apply compulsory military service polity to both men and or lessen the service term by considering the difficulties of what men face after their long term military service.  

             Finally, the mandatory long term military service can also be an obstacle in the nation’s development by preventing the early expansion of males in the employment. As it was mentioned before, males face difficulties right after their end of military service and these difficulties of adapting to a new environment can also cause the impact on the preparation of getting jobs, leading to the postponement of elites associating into every job field. While men have to experience strenuous training in the military for two years, at that time women just need to prepare for their own careers and probably get employed faster than men. Therefore, this clearly shows that males will get fewer chances or even face disadvantages in the process of preparing for building their own careers compared to women, and it will eventually cause negative effects in our society, such as loss in economic development due to male’s mandatory military service.

             Overall, there are some negative aspects about the issue of males’ mandatory military service in Korea. First, the purpose of military service, which is protecting the nation and preparing for the attack of North Korea in near future, is not only for men’s duty but also for women, so it is not fair for only males to serve in the military. In addition, the long term of military service in isolated areas brings negative influences on both males themselves and for the nation. Males will face hard times adapting to a new environment and this problem can also influence the development of our society. As we see this issue in males viewpoint, we could see that there are some disadvantages for males and recognize that military service is not really a fair policy. The best solution to improve this problem is emphasizing the sexual equality by regulating the law of women to also be part of the mandatory military service policy. Moreover, lessening the term of military service will also improve the problem of men struggling from isolated areas to adapt in ordinary society immediately. From this change, there will be effects of less complaints and disadvantages of men related to this problem.

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