[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The Supreme Court has ruled that the Ministry of National Defense's decision to discharge a military chaplain who violated regulations prohibiting marriage was justified.
The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Park Jeong-hwa) announced on the 19th that it upheld the lower court's ruling, which dismissed the appeal filed by Mr. A, a former Air Force military chaplain (military legal officer), who sought to cancel his discharge order against the Ministry of National Defense.
Mr. A became a monk in 1999 and obtained monk status under the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. He was commissioned as an Air Force military chaplain in July 2005. In June 2011, Mr. A married Ms. B in violation of the regulations set by the Jogye Order. The Jogye Order prohibited monks serving as military chaplains from marrying. Although there was originally a provision allowing marriage, it was removed when the regulation was revised in March 2009. Accordingly, in April 2015, the Jogye Order revoked Mr. A's monk status for violating the Order's constitution (jongheon).
The Air Force Headquarters' Active Service Unsuitability Investigation Committee also decided to discharge him in July 2017, and the Ministry of National Defense took action under the Military Personnel Act to declare him unfit for active service.
Mr. A filed a lawsuit, arguing that "he had been in a de facto marital relationship with Ms. B since around December 2007 and was abroad for training when the Jogye Order's regulation was revised in March 2009, so he was unaware of the amendment to the Order's constitution, making the imposed disadvantages unfair."
The first and second trials rejected Mr. A's claims. The second trial court pointed out that "he concealed the fact of marriage for four years and damaged the dignity of an officer when his monk status was revoked." The Supreme Court stated that there was no error in the lower court's judgment.
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