The Constitutional Court previously considered this issue in 2004 and 2011. Both times, it ruled that the laws penalizing conscientious objectors are constitutional. Similarly, the Supreme Court, South Korea’s chief appellate court and court of last instance, ruled in 2004 and again in 2007 that conscientious objection to military service is not a justifiable ground for refusing military call-up. Despite these high court rulings, enforcement of the law continues to be an unresolved issue—even in the courts.

South Korean courts at every level have expressed discomfort in sentencing conscientious objectors to prison. Since the Constitutional Court’s 2011 decision on the issue, the Court itself has agreed to hear 7 cases referred by district courts and 22 additional cases submitted by individuals. The Supreme Court rulings have also been challenged, and more than 40 cases on the issue of conscientious objection are pending with this high court. Since May 2015, trial courts have issued nine not-guilty decisions on behalf of conscientious objectors.

In October 2016, an appellate court took note of the struggle both in the lower courts and in those above them, stating: “This kind of confusion in interpreting and applying a single legal provision is unprecedented.” In the first ruling of its kind, the same appellate court declared three conscientious objectors not guilty. That not-guilty decision was welcomed by the Seoul Bar Association, which considered it “monumental.” The president of the Seoul Bar Association, Han-kyu Kim, noted that the Constitutional Court now has the final say.