Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mikejelai]

I am doing a research paper on the topic of elected politicians who avoid compulsory military service (not just Korean politicians, btw) - for whatever reason: health reasons, purported health reasons, moral grounds, by way of bribes/other influence, etc. Anyone know where I might find data?

[crsandus]

I'm saying this with nothing to back it up but I don't think you'd get too much information about Korean politicans avoiding military service for themselves (for their children, is another story). From what I've observed, Korean politicans are generally older (at the very least in their 30s if not 40s+) and the military duty in Korean generally has to be served in their early 20s.

[BoholDiver]

이회창's son avoided it by purposely starving himself, getting a doctor's note, and then 'recovering'.

[SteveJobs]

research former us vice president Dick Cheney. He dodged several times. biggest hypocrite on earth. claims to be the biggest champion for the us military but when asked to serve he found any excuse possible to avoid. can u believe he attacked john kerry? john kerry is a war hero!

[jvalmer]

I believe Koreans have to serve before 35. Most politicians, especially at the national level are well over 35. Most of them probably served or were in their prime during the Korean War and in the chaos managed not to serve. Some of the old geezers were born well before the mandatory requirements, so some of those guys probably didn't have to serve. The public doesn't care about those mentioned cases, it's the people now, that escape service, the public may be angered about.

When talking about politician's sons, there have been a few questionable cases. Lee Hoi-chang, who ran against Kim Dae-jung and Roh in the presidential elections in 1997 and 2002. In his campaign against Kim, the media found out that 2 of his sons skirted military service by being under weight. One of the reasons he lost that election.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[pkang0202]

I believe most, if not all politicians have served in the military. If they had not, their opponents would've ripped them a new one, and they would've never won their office.

As for their family's, I think its a big political liability. Years ago you heard of politicians getting their children out of military service. When that news broke, they got a lot of negative reactions from the public. Nowadays, its more common for a politician to boast that they, as well as their children, have served in the military.

Obviously, this doesn't apply to women.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[bocceman]

meanwhile, the sun rises in the east and the pope's catholic.

[mistermasan]

sorry, the sun never rises and the pope isn't "catholic". He is Catholic. the C vs. c makes the word have a different meaning.