Mandatory Military Service?

Should military service be mandatory? This question is brought up a lot amongst Koreans, especially in Korea. Military service is mandatory to all male Korean citizens, period. No exceptions, no questions (of course, if you’re disabled or something, you’d probably be excused from it. You can delay it, but there is an end to it. ALL citizens are required, no matter what. I’m still a Korean citizen, holding an American green card. I’m not so sure about military service for green card holders, but I think they call them to service after age 24. One of my friends (obviously a green card holder) went to Korea over the summer, unfortunately got called into service, and now in the military. Military has such a dirty reputation in Korea because it is forced onto people. In America, military service is completely voluntary, and has some incentives to motivate you to sign up for it. If the Korean government decides to make military service voluntary service, I can guarantee you that NO ONE will choose to go. I’m kind of afraid of going back to Korea after I graduate because of it too. Korean military is nothing like the American military. No pay, no weekends, just 2 years of harshness. It’s getting better and better over time, but it still is ridiculously harsh. Mandatory service isn’t the problem, it’s the conditions.

There has been a debate on whether or not a soccer player should be excused from military service recently. Anyone who qualified for a medal in the Olympics is exempt from military service, as an award. In the London Olympics, the Korean soccer team beat Japan and qualified for bronze medal. The rule was, all players that played in at least 1 game are excused. There was one player who did not play at all, until the last 2 minutes of the very last game. I guess the coach felt bad for him. But he wasn’t the problem. One of the players picked up a sign that said “Dokdo is Our Land,” in Korean and ran around after the game. Dokdo is disputed territory between Korea and Japan, and it has become a serious diplomatic concern for both countries. The Olympic Committee’s rule is that no players are allowed to make a political message, in which they interpreted the sign as a political message. The player was handed the sign by the crowd, and he ran around with it at the heat of the moment. Japan reported this and he was not allowed to receive bronze medal, which excluded him from getting exempt from military service. Eventually the Korean president felt bad for him and excused him from it, but should military service that strictly forced onto people? I feel like military service is necessary, but I think the government is approaching it the wrong way.