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    Controversy erupts as Korea moves to reward soldiers for defying martial law orders
    South Korea

    Controversy erupts as Korea moves to reward soldiers for defying martial law orders


    Controversy erupts as Korea moves to reward soldiers for defying martial law orders

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/defense/20250721/controversy-erupts-as-korea-moves-to-reward-soldiers-for-defying-martial-law-orders

    Posted by Venetian_Gothic

    View 9 Comments

    9 Comments

    1. ObligationDry1799 on

      what, so defying against dictatorships is something to be punished for?

    2. SquarebobSpongepants on

      I agree with this. Soldiers should follow the law and constitution over their superior officers illegal orders. The soldiers who did this risked punishment and should be rewarded for their bravery in the face of such a difficult thing. If this opens up more soldiers to questioning illegal and horrific actions from their superiors, I think that is a sacrifice everyone should be willing to make. 
      Soldiers are people too, and if they fuck up, fine, investigate and punish accordingly but that is so much better than just blindly following orders.

    3. GeneralGom on

      They pretty much saved us from becoming a dictatorship. Of course they should be rewarded.

    4. walklikeaduck on

      Of course high ranking military officers are against this, because now they feel that their power will be questioned (as it should be, if they order something illegal). This line of thinking is what’s so wrong with Korean culture and the hierarchical nature of Korean society.

      Remember the Sewol disaster? Students were told to stay put, ever though the captain abandoned ship. The students dutifully listened and they perished. Soldiers are required to ignore illegal orders, simple as that. And officers, politicians, etc. ordering illegal actions should be held and stripped of duties on the spot.

    5. DateMasamusubi on

      Blindly following orders and committing crimes is something punished by Nuremberg and Tokyo after WW2. Every soldier has a duty to not perform orders that are unlawful.

    6. edonanaz on

      Good for the soldiers. A soldier’s duty is to the country, the people. Not to whoever happens to be president at the moment, especially not if they’re a crazed power-hungry lunatic with delusions of grandeur.

    8. Jacmert on

      There’s no scientific polling or even unscientific polling done in this article, so we don’t know if this “controversy” is from like 4% or 40% of the voting population, etc. The article just has a few quotes from people who object to it.

    9. Odd_Beginning536 on

      ‘I was just following orders’ echoed throughout the Nuremberg trials. Not that this is like that exactly but it’s a sloppy slope. South korea right now is like the foil to the US. I hope soldiers think/ ‘this isn’t warfare against another country but I’m ordered to attack our own?’

      Traditionally directives in the military are for efficiency. But also a shared belief it was they are defending. Asking solders to potentially harm their own people, it’s a different set of guidelines. When governments set soldiers against people in their country I’m glad it’s questioned. That’s not why the military exists. I applaud them for not gathering and possibly harming anyone or opening fire on people, that is just so wrong.