The defendant's appeal is dismissed.

1. The gist of the grounds for appeal is that the Defendant, as the believers of the E religious organization, refused to enlist in the military according to a religious conscience. Such conscientious objection is guaranteed pursuant to Article 18 of the International Covenant on the Freedom of conscience and Civil and Political Rights under the Constitution, and thus, constitutes “justifiable cause” under Article 88(1) of the Military Service Act.

Even so, conscientious objection does not constitute “justifiable cause” as mentioned above.

In light of the above legal principles, the court below erred by misapprehending the legal principles, thereby affecting the conclusion of the judgment.

2. Article 88(1) of the Military Service Act was prepared to specify the duty of national defense of the most fundamental citizen, and it is clear that the dignity and value as human beings cannot be guaranteed if the national security is not achieved because the duty of military service is not fulfilled properly.

Therefore, military service is ultimately aimed at ensuring the dignity and value of all citizens as human beings, and the freedom of conscience of conscientious objectors cannot be said to be higher than that of the above constitutional legal interests.

Ultimately, even if the freedom of conscience of a defendant is restricted pursuant to Article 37(2) of the Constitution for such constitutional legal interests, it is a legitimate restriction permitted under the Constitution (see Supreme Court Decision 2004Do2965, Jul. 15, 2004). Meanwhile, even from the provision of Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the Republic of Korea joined, the right to be exempted from the application of the said provision is not derived, and even if the United Nations Commission on Freedom of Civil and Political Rights proposed recommendations, this does not have any legal binding force.

As for the introduction of the alternative service system, a wide range of discretion should be given to the legislators of member countries, it is necessary to introduce the alternative service system at present.