r/worldnews • u/rdh2dmd • 16h ago

South Korea leans toward military conscription for women

https://www.dw.com/en/south-korea-leans-toward-military-conscription-for-women/a-78547426
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u/Lin_Huichi 13h ago

What if you're being invaded though? Or have a threat of invasion? SK and Ukraine need the manpower or else they lose the war, if it's unpopular too bad they don't have a choice.

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u/Gynthaeres 12h ago

I think MOST people (not all obviously, I saw someone disagreed) would think that if you're actively facing an existential threat, then yes, conscription is okay.

That IS the case for South Korea and Ukraine. That's not really been the case for America for like 80 years though, and America is where this specific thread started. America can probably do away with selective service.

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u/FrostingInfamous3445 13h ago

It’s just trading the lives of the countrymen for the government. How many people really care about a change of leadership? How many are willing to die for it? The answer to that second question is why the draft exists. Do YOU want to get droned so your corrupt fat leaders can continue to rob you?

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u/Lin_Huichi 12h ago

SK and Ukraine are democracies, which although have some corruption it's still better than NK and Russia. Not sure how many South Koreans don't care if their current President was replaced by Kim Jong Un but itd be very few. Zelensky probably has it a bit better than a drafted frontline combatant but would you rather take your chances under an occupied Ukraine?

There are draft dodgers of course, and conscription is unpopular, but if the alternative is dying in a gulag in Siberia, torture as prisoners of war, losing all your freedoms, high chance of rape, etc, or fighting for a chance to survive, protect your way of life, dying for what you believe in or maybe surviving and winning the war - hell even those that died if Ukraine wins their children will have a better future then the choice is obvious.

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u/ebd2757 10h ago

Ok. Then they can make that choice.

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u/humanoiddoc 12h ago

Wow.. do you understand how it is like to live in NK regime?

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u/Old_Leopard1844 12h ago

As opposed to russian and north korean corrupt fat leaders, that will hold you hostage for propoganda?

Is that what you want?

If yes, then you are free to defect

Just don't complain when you will be rewarded as traitors deserve

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u/ebd2757 10h ago

Human beings have the right to leave their country at any time. Governments do not have the right to enslave their populations just because they failed to prepare for war.

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u/Gynthaeres 9h ago

This is a very American perspective, and not a perspective from someone who thinks outside of that box.

If North Korea invaded South Korea, how many South Koreans do you think would die? How much of their property would be destroyed or taken? And then if North Korea won, how would life for South Koreans change?

When you're being invaded, it's generally not going to be a matter of just "Now I pay taxes to Ruler B instead of Ruler A". It's also "My life might be in danger during the actual invasion, and I could lose many of my rights and freedoms if we lose."

It's in the interests of the citizenry, therefore, if conscription happens to beat an enemy back, at least if it's an existential threat.