On January 28, 2021, South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled that objection to reserve-forces training based on conscience is not a crime. Now, our brothers who served in the military before becoming Jehovah’s Witnesses will no longer face ongoing legal punishment.

All South Korean men who served in the military must periodically report for reserve-forces training for eight years. This meant that our brothers who were formerly soldiers would be summoned and punished multiple times for refusing the training. One brother had to appear before the police, the prosecutor’s office, and trial and appeal courts as many as 60 times within one year.

In 2018, Korea’s two high courts, the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, decided that conscientious objection to military service was not a crime and opened the way for establishing alternative civilian service. But the Courts did not address the Reserve Forces Act, which establishes the legal basis for punishing those who refuse reserve-forces training because of their religious beliefs.

The recent Supreme Court ruling finally recognizes conscientious objection to reserve-forces training as lawful. Brothers who have endured long-pending legal battles can now apply for alternative civilian service in place of criminal fines and imprisonment. Brother Nam Tae-hee, one of the defendants involved in this ruling, explains: “After going through several lawsuits during the past eight years, my rights are finally being acknowledged. I feel like a great weight has been lifted off of me.”

We rejoice and thank Jehovah with our Korean brothers and their families who have ‘endured hardship and suffered unjustly because of conscience toward God’!—1 Peter 2:19.