Local councilman sparks national service debate

Kim Min-seok had been working as a parking attendant during the day as a social service agent as an alternative to the mandatory military service and working as a councilman after work.

Councilman Kim Min-seok makes a speect at the Gangseo District Office's council meeting in January. [KIM MIN-SEOK]

A young politician is asking a court to allow him to perform his mandatory national service while simultaneously serving as a city district councilman.

He may be forced to resign his elected council seat if the court refuses his request.

Gangseo District Office councilman Kim Min-seok, a former member of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), filed an injunction Thursday against the Seoul Facilities Corporation’s cancellation of its previous approval allowing him to perform “alternative” national service as a social service agent while serving as a local legislator.

Alternative service usually entails public service in lieu of serving in the military.

Kim told the JoongAng Ilbo he will take the issue all the way to the Constitutional Court if need be.

The 30-year-old councilman is the first local office lawmaker to serve his obligatory national service while still in office.

Seoul Facilities Corporation cancelled its conditional approval at the request of the Military Manpower Administration on Monday, just four days after Kim started his alternative national service.

The Military Manpower Administration cited the Military Service Act, which prohibits social service agents from engaging in political activity, including joining a party or political organization.

Social service agents have a duty to remain politically neutral.

Kim argues that he has not violated the law because he left the PPP when he started his alternative military service.

He said that although the Constitutional Court has ruled that people performing alternative service are prohibited from joining political parties, participating in political activity is allowed.

The Military Manpower Administration also argued that Kim was ineligible for approval for concurrent service.

It said the law allows people to engage in national service while engaged in other activities only when poverty necessitates the person keep working to support a family, or when the person engages in non-profit activities that serve the national interest, such as volunteer work.

In response, Kim argued that the Military Manpower Administration has too narrowly interpreted the law and that it should leave the approval decision to the head of the agency to which the social service agent is assigned.

He also argued that denying a duly elected councilman also to serve as a social service agent violates the constitutionally protected right to hold public office.

Kim stressed that there are no legal grounds to deny a publicly elected official from holding another not-for-profit post.

“Forcing an elected councilman to quit is not only a violation of the constitution but also a betrayal that distorts the will of residents,” Kim said.

In his Facebook post, the councilman emphasized his innocence, claiming he was not trying to avoid military duty by performing alternative service.

He said he was serving as a social service agent because of back surgery.

“I have had two treatments for a herniated disk and one surgery,” Kim said in his post.

“At Soon Chun Hyang University Hospital I endured every day, persistently taking nerve pain reducing needles,” Kim said.

He said his request to Seoul Facilities Corporation to allow to serve as a social service agent while serving as a district office councilman was legal. . Kim was voted into office in June last year and started his mandatory national service as a social service agent on Feb. 24.

People assigned to social service — including assisting at local government offices and other public institutions — are usually individuals who have received poor evaluations on their physical exams.

Kim had been working as a parking attendant at Seoul Facilities Corporation headquartered at Yangcheon District, which neighbors Gangseo District, during the day and working as a councilman after work.

The Democratic Party (DP) has demanded that Kim resign from his post as councilman, accusing him of receiving “special treatment” and serving an excessively cushy national service assignment.

The DP argued that the PPP shouldn’t have allowed Kim to run for the councilman seat in June in the first place.

“The PPP picked a candidate that would have clearly caused a national service controversy while in office when he turned older than 30,” said Park Seong-ho, a DP councilman at Gangseo District office, in a press conference Tuesday.

“It’s also absurd for an elected official to join the military less than a year in office.”

Korean men between the ages of 19 and 37 must perform mandatory national service, usually in the military.

“One has to wonder if the Seoul Facilities Corporation could properly give duty orders to a district councilman who comes from the PPP, even if he’s a councilman in the next district over” Park added.

BY MOON HEE-CHUL, LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]