With respect to the so-called conscientious objection, the Constitutional Court decided that Article 88(1) of the Military Service Act, which is a provision punishing the act of evading enlistment, does not violate the Constitution (see Constitutional Court Order 2002Hun-Ga1, August 26, 2004). The Supreme Court decided that conscientious objection according to conscience does not constitute “justifiable cause” as provided for the exception to punishment under the above provision, and that even from the provision of Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in which Korea is a member of the Republic of Korea, the right to be exempted from the application of the above provision is not derived, and that even if the United Nations Commission proposed recommendations, this does not have any legal binding force.

(See Supreme Court en banc Decision 2004Do2965 Decided July 15, 2004, and Supreme Court Decision 2007Do8187 Decided November 29, 2007, etc.). The allegation in the grounds of appeal is not acceptable as it violates the above decision of the Constitutional Court and the purport of the Supreme Court decision.

Therefore, the appeal is dismissed. It is so decided as per Disposition by the assent of all participating Justices on the bench.