Social service agent

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The Social Service Personnel (Korean: 사회복무요원, 社會服務要員) is a system of compulsory employment in South Korea. It is the country's largest type of transitional and alternative civilian service system. It opened on January 1, 1995. Originally called Public Service personnel (Korean: 공익근무요원, 公益勤務要員), it was renamed in 2013 due to an amendment to military service act.

South Korean government runs conscription. It checks every South Korean male citizens' body (South Korea doesn't draft its female citizens) to see if they are qualified to serve in the military. It classifies draftees from grade 1 to grade 6 based on their physical, mental condition. Grade 1 to grade 3 are qualified to serve in the military. Grade 4 to grade 6 are disqualified from service in military because of their physical or mental limitations. People who get grade 4 have to serve as social service agents after 3 weeks of basic military training. If a draftee gets grade 4 because of mental limitations, then he is exempted from the basic military training and put in to the social service immediately.

History[]

Prior to 1995, the system was called Standby Replacement. The current social service agent was a standby replacement. Later, the standby replacement system was abolished, creating a public service worker system.

In 2012, the term public service worker was deleted, and the administrator's clerk was replaced with the social service agent. The international cooperation agency[1] and the art and physical education agency among public service workers were separated under the social service system.[2]

The social service agent's five-day training course (after four weeks of basic military training) was implemented as a camp in 2015. The place is 'Chungcheongbuk-do Boeun-gun/ (충청북도 보은군) social service training center, which also lasts five days, over 44 hours.

Compensation[]

Social workers get little pay. Second jobs are prohibited until the worker documents their needs and is granted a job permit. The salary paid to social workers in accounting is basically the same as for those on active duty. Only lunch and some transportation are expenseable and only on work days.

As of 2018, the monthly salary was 300,000-400,000 won complemented by a small lunch fee. For reference, the minimum cost of living for one person in 2017 was 991,759 won.[citation needed]

A double-employment permit system is available for socially disadvantaged workers, although this is similar to compulsory double labor for socially disadvantaged workers.

The Constitutional Court ruled that active duty soldiers be provided with ritual stocks from the military, and that the military can allow salaries below the minimum wage (2011헌마307).

In April 2017, former social worker "Lee da-hoon (21 years old) said, "The current social service worker's remuneration system is significantly below the minimum cost of living, violating the right to equality, property rights, and human life." The Constitutional Court of Korea issued the Constitutional Court of Korea (2017헌마374), and for the first time in the history of the Republic of Korea, the Constitutional Court for the remuneration of social service personnel was referred to the Institutional Psychology.[3][clarification needed]

Protest[]

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the social service personnel system is a form of forced labor. According to the ILO 29 Convention, military conscription itself does not qualify as forced labor, but national mobilization for non-military work, such as industrial technical personnel (산업기능요원), social service agent (사회복무요원) does. South Korea did not join the 29/105 Convention, which prohibits forced labour. South Korea criticized the Japanese military's kidnapping comfort women and Hashima's forced recruitment of Koreans as forced labor,[4] but rejects the comparison with the social service system.[5] Of the 187 member states of the ILO, nine have not ratified the ILO Core Conventions 29 and 105, including the Republic of Korea.[6][7]

On May 30, 2019, former social worker "Lee da Hoon[8] (23 years old)," together with dozens of citizens, held a press conference in front of the Constitutional Court to urge the abolition of the social service system and ratification of ILO Core Convention 105. He called for a constitutional appeal trial for the social service system.[9]

The 50 attendees included current and former social service personnel. They advocated the end of the social service personnel system that forces young people who cannot qualify for military service due to physical limitations to carry out other labor. They also urged the government to ratify ILO Core Conventions 29 and 105.

The Republic of Korea and the National Assembly introduced the National Defense Service in 1969. Its main task is to carry out labor unrelated to military affairs and is inconsistent with the purpose and intent of the military service system. As of 2019, hundreds of billions of treasury losses had occurred. The system extracted labor from nearly four million men in their twenties.

Social workers are remanded to assist administrative agencies and social welfare facilities. Regular employees delegate tasks to social service workers. Social service personnel are not trained to perform such tasks, with unknown effects on results.

Most social workers serve in social welfare facilities with a level 4 award for mental or physical illness.

In 2017, protestors solicited a constitutional petition for remuneration of social service workers, but this was not granted.

Protestors claimed that politicians and others were allowed to take advantage of this system to escape military service even though that had no physical impairments.[citation needed]

South Korean government insisted that the social service system is not forced labor, but each time the ILO Secretariat issued a statement that the system violates the Convention.

South Korean government modified parts of the social service system in October 2019, so social service agents can "choose" to serve as a military personnel if they want to - even though they were disqualified to serve in military because of their physical, mental limitations in the first place. The government insists that it is no longer forced labour, because they give them a choice to whether serve in military or serve in civil sector.[10]

Form of service[]

According to the service organization and service field, it is divided into day work, day and night work, and camp work. Day work is performed from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm on weekdays. Night duty is performed according to the duty schedule previously negotiated by the service director.

Absent four weeks of basic military training, workers are authorized to perform civil service instead. Workers can request a new worksite after one year of service or to escape corruption or in a hardship position.

Social service agents work in social service, health/medicine, education, environmental safety or administration.

This sector is mostly responsible for the care of disabled children or the elderly with dementia. The environmental safety sector is responsible for managing facilities such as reservoirs and sewage.

Social service agents working for the NIS in administration must pass through a competitive screening. Once stationed, if they leak work details, they can be sentenced to imprisonment.

Claims of abuse[]

A social worker serving in Seocho 1-dong Community Center in 2016 was found dead on June 22, 2016.[11] The media reported suicide, but it is not yet known how they died. The dead worker was found to have experienced severe depression.

In December 2019, it was confirmed that a civil servant who had been hired for less than one to two months had instructed a social worker to sort 35,000 masks by himself.[12] The relevant official posted a letter stating that a public service worker was unable to perform this task. "I asked a public service worker to distribute the goods in envelopes, and I had a hard look," he said. This stimulated a controversy, leading the official to delete his post and offer an apology. "I apologize for not thinking in advance that rash behavior will hurt someone," he said. "There was a problem with my behavior entirely, and through conversations I learned a false perception I didn't even think about. I will change my preoccupied thoughts and actions. ”

An anonymous former social service agent published a website written in English to reveal how social service agents are treated in South Korea.[13]

Foreign trade impacts[]

Lee Dahoon submitted 13 chapters of amicus curiae briefs on 9 January 2019 to the panel of experts during the final stage of the European Union-Korea free trade agreement dispute resolution process proposed by the EU in the absence of ILO ratification efforts.

The Expert Panel for Dispute Resolution was to begin on 30 December 2019, and finish before 30 March 2020, when a report on whether the system violated the FTA. In that case the EU can implements sanctions, such as tariffs, IPR regulations,[clarification needed] and foreign investment reductions.

Benefits[]

Social service agents have five categories of time off from work, including annual leave, sick leave, compassionate leave, emergency leave and official holiday.

Discipline[]

Warnings can be issued by the head of the service agency. In this case, the duty period is extended by five days per warning. After receiving than 7 warnings, workers can be charged with violating the military service law, and sentenced to imprisonment. Days spent incarcerated do not count toward the duty period.

Comparisons[]

Sortation Active duty full-time reserve Reservist (social service agents etc)
Duty active duty, reservist (after duty) active duty only for basic military training, after that, remaining duty is served as a reservist basic military education and discharge from military service as reservist (same for the reserve forces after that)
Identity soldier soldier citizen
Duty period Army and Marine 1 Year 9 Months, Navy 1 Year 11 Months, Air Force 2 Years Army, Marine, Navy, all 1 year and 9 months. 1 year and 10 months based on social service agents
Rank after duty sergeant sergeant private
Form of duty barracks life commute to work or leave from home every day (weekends usually rest)[14] commute to work or leave from home every day or camp (two days of vacation per week)
Relative height - effective January 1, 1995. effective January 1, 1995.

Service period by type[]

Social service agents enrolled after January 1, 2011 serve for 2 years. Soldiers and a police officer's son/brother may serve six months as 'social service agents' even if they are above grade six.

Education[]

Basic military training[]

Workers enrolled as a social service agent receive four weeks of basic military training at the Army Training Center, the Homeland Division, the Jeju Defense Command or the Naval Education Command. Enrollees whose period of military training received from an educational institution exceeds basic military education do not receive military training.[15]

Post deployment training[]

Training carried out after deployment includes remunerated education and job training. Social service agents who have completed education receive further training by other social service agents. Refinement education is a five-day camp under the auspices of the local Military Manpower Administration, which conducts job training after basic military training and the termination of refinement education. The head of the relevant central administrative agency conducts the training. The Korea Fire Service provides job training for one week at the central fire school after placement.[15]

References[]

  1. ^ It will be abolished from 2016 http://kov.koica.go.kr/hom/
  2. ^ Military Service Law Amendment Act (draft) Legislative Notice August 12, 2011
  3. ^ 임순현 (2017-04-10). "사회복무요원 "의식주 비용 제공하라" 헌법소원… 심리 중". 연합뉴스 (in Korean). Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  4. ^ 이, 세원 (10 July 2015). "[단독]일본, '징용은 강제노동' ILO보고서도 부정하나". 연합뉴스. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  5. ^ 현, 지용 (1 November 2019). "사복요원제 비판에도 국방부 "'선택'하면 강제노동 아냐"". 시사주간. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  6. ^ "C029 - Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)". International Labour Organization. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  7. ^ "C105 - Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105)". International Labour Organization. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  8. ^ "이다훈". www.facebook.com.
  9. ^ "사회복무요원 소집제도 첫 헌법소원심판 청구 - 매일노동뉴스". www.labortoday.co.kr.
  10. ^ 정, 희완 (31 October 2019). "국방부, 보충역 판정받아도 현역 복무 가능 방안 추진···ILO 핵심협약 비준 걸림돌 제거 원문보기: http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/khan_art_view.html?art_id=201910311007001#csidxcfb1280824200aebc7f3aae32617137". 경향신문. Retrieved 16 February 2020. External link in |title= (help)
  11. ^ ""공익으로 입대한 제 아들이 '민원인 욕설+무관심'에 스스로 목숨을 끊었습니다"".
  12. ^ "공익 혼자 마스크 3만5천장을..."힘들다"던 공무원 급사과". 이데일리. December 27, 2019.
  13. ^ "Dear Staff of the International Labour Organization". Forced labour of Korea.
  14. ^ A year of barracks life in the front division before 1998.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b ":+: 중앙소방학교 :+:". November 23, 2011. Archived from the original on November 23, 2011.

Further reading[]

External links[]

MMA Social Service Portal(ROK)

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