South Korea: MMA publishes the personal details of COs. Again.

In a move that could endanger conscientious objectors, South Korea's Military Manpower Administration has once again included the personal information of conscientious objectors in a public, online registry of draft dodgers. This is true even for some people who have been acquitted in their trials for draft dodging.

On 21 December 2017, the MMA published the personal information of 266 draft dodgers on its website. In response, 252 people filed a lawsuit, and the second division of the Seoul Administrative Court ruled that the publication of the plaintiffs’ personal information should be halted until the court makes its ruling.

As we reported in our last CO-Update, this also happened last year. In May 2017, a Seoul court ruled against the MMA for disclosing names and other personal information of conscientious objectors. The Court granted an emergency injunction filed by 116 conscientious objectors whose names had been on the administration body's website since December 2016.

Source: The Hankyoreh, Personal information of conscientious objectors included in public registry of draft dodger, 26 December 2017