amendment of the Military Court Act in Jul. 2022, and the crimes committed prior to joining
the military. Also, appeals against military trials are transferred to civilian courts (Seoul
High Court) as the High Military Court was abolished.
B) Changes in the Military’s Human Rights Protection System in 2022:
Strengthening the External Control
Helpline, the leading counseling center for grievances in the military, can share the
contents of the counseling received in relation to life in the military, sexual violence, and
military crimes with the commanders of the concerned unit pursuant to the Military
Management Directive. The percentage of consultations shared with the commanders rose
from 8.8% in 2018 to 17.8% in 2021.404) However, the human rights protection system
established within the military has exposed various problems, including suspicion of
concealing incidents, neglecting the measures to protect the victims, and secondary harm in
various cases, and there are much danger and distrust of concealing the incidents. This is
evident from the fact that servicemen report their grievances or human rights violations to
civic groups, such as the Military Human Rights Center, and to civilians through Facebook
pages, etc.
In particular, the military's human rights protection system showed weakness in dealing
with ‘gender-based violence,’ such as sexual harassment and sexual violence, and
discriminatory regulations and administration against LGBTI continue until recently.
Accordingly, improvements in the military human rights protection system has been
discussed to strengthen the external control, and the establishment of the military human
rights officer and the revision of the Military Court Act in 2022 are seen as examples.
However, there is a limitation in the external control has not been strengthened to a sufficient
level despite the two changes made to the human rights protection systems in 2022.
The military human rights officer system is particularly criticized for its provision restricting
the right to investigate. They are the provision that restricts the military human rights
officer's right to make an unannounced visit and conduct investigation, and the provision
404) YTN, Increased connection to commanders at the military help-line, Sep. 19, 2021.
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