Members of South Korea's national baseball team celebrate after beating Chinese Taipei 6-3 in the Asian Games final at the Munhak Stadium in Incheon, Sunday. The victory has reignited debate over whether they deserve exemption from the country's mandatory military service as reward. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-ch



By Jung Min-ho

The South Korean baseball team Sunday clinched the gold at the Incheon Asian Games, but a lot of people here seem to have more reasons to mock their achievement than celebrate or be proud of it.

They think players will enjoy greater benefits than they deserve — exemption from the country's mandatory two years of military service. Ironically, their gold has also led to fierce discussion about abolishing such rewards for athletes.

"I wish they lost the game," 29-year-old baseball fan Park Tae-yang said. "I do not understand why Korea, in the 21st century, still has to give military exemption for athletes on the grounds that they help promote the country."

Such harsh feelings against the national team are also based on the fact that South Korea is the only country that sent professional baseball players, who appeared desperate for a military exemption, and let them compete against teams consisting mostly of amateur players.

Starting with a 15-0 rout against Thailand, South Korea defeated Chinese Taipei 10-0 and Hong Kong 12-0 in its group stage matches, all ended before the ninth inning with the application of the "mercy rule."

The host country also defeated China 7-2 in the semifinals and again beat Chinese Taipei 6-3 in the final.

Players and coaches also admit that their strongest motivation to fiercely play against their relatively weak opponents comes from the privilege to be exempted from military service.

Later, manager Ryu Joong-il admitted the benefit of military exemption is "worth at least 4 to 8 billion won ($3.8 million to $7.6 million)."

Ryu's selection of players drew criticism from the beginning as his roster mostly included those who had not served their military duty, even though there were better alternatives who had done so.

At second base, for example, Ryu chose Oh Jae-won of the Doosan Bears over Seo Geon-chang of the Nexen Heroes.

Seo leads the Korea Baseball Organization in hits and runs scored, and he is second in stolen bases and fifth in batting average — better offensive numbers across the board than Oh. But the decisive factor was that Seo had served his two years in the military, but Oh has not.

The issue of the military exemption also drew much stronger criticism after a series of tragedies in the military, including a 23 year-old serviceman who went on a shooting spree in June killing colleagues, and the death of a soldier the same age due to injuries from hazing.

Against this backdrop, critics argue that the country needs to abolish the special law that grants such exemption to athletes.

The law was first implemented in 1973 by former President Park Chung-hee who thought it was necessary to promote Korea to the world and enhance the country's prestige. But many observers now believe times have changed.

Critics also point out that the current law is unfair as it only applies to the Olympics and the Asian Games; those who win a gold medal at the Asian Games or any medal at the Olympics are rewarded with complete exemption from the mandatory military service.

Theoretically, therefore, even if a Korean tennis player wins the Wimbledon Championship, the most prestigious competition of the sport, the person still has to serve in the military.