South Korean Olympic Medalists Exemption in Military Service Called Unfair
South Korean Olympic Medalists journey for the Olympic glory is given a powerful incentive of being exempted from the two years military service that all South Korean men have to undergo.
Son Heung-nim, the forward of South Korea Olympic soccer team dropped to his knees and put his forehead on the grass due to their defeat in getting the soccer Olympic medal.
Aside from the Korean team's loss to Honduras, Son and his teammates had also missed out a powerful incentive since when South Korea was a military dictatorship: Men who step onto the medal podium are exempted from two years of military service where all young, able bodied South Korean men, from pop stars to lawmakers' sons, have to undergo to face North Korean threats of war.
"I couldn't stop crying because I was so sorry for letting my teammates down. I couldn't even look at their faces," said by Son, a 24-year old soccer player, who plays with the English Premier League club Tottenham and who acknowledged ahead of the game that a military exemption was on his mind.
South Korean officials have created the exemptions to medals since 1970s. It is an attempt by military strongmen to associate Olympic achievement with regime loyalty and national pride. Currently, there are growing calls to scrap what had once been regarded as a deserved perk for heroic athletic accomplishment.
There's huge resentment over mandatory military service in general amid a tremendous job market and the failure of South Korea's military to eradicate bullying and abuse in the barracks. However, full-time athletes already get unfair special treatment even when they don't win medals. Athletes, for example, many who are famous and rich, can spend their mandatory service playing for military- or police-run sports teams.
Meanwhile, ordinary South Koreans often see their lives thrown into turmoil during their youth because they have to stop their educations or careers, which is a major disadvantage to them because South Korea has an ultra-competitive society
Kim Ki-hee, who failed to log a single minute in previous matches at the Soccer game at the London Games, still qualified for military exemption by playing the last five minutes of the bronze medal match against Japan.
"The taxes we pay are already spent on training these athletes, and it's strange that we additionally reward them with military exemptions when they actually do well. We should overcome and change this nationalistic approach to sports and the system for developing elite athletes, not further promote it," said Kim Min-seok, 38, an office worker in Seoul.
South Korea rewarded performers from a large number of competitions, including world championships and even the World University Games until 1980. After that, the exemptions have been narrowed down to the winners of Olympic medals and Asian Game golds.