The influence of South Korean conscription system on those who have experienced conscription : Focusing on the word "becoming a man"

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  • 韓国の徴兵制が徴兵経験者に与える影響 : 「男になる」という言葉を中心に
  • カンコク ノ チョウヘイセイ ガ チョウヘイ ケイケンシャ ニ アタエル エイキョウ : 「 オトコ ニ ナル 」 ト イウ コトバ オ チュウシン ニ

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Focusing on the phrase "becoming a man," which expresses internal changes due to the influence of conscription, the purpose of this study is to understand how South Korean men perceive the meaning of the phrase and how they share it among themselves. To do so, I conducted two rounds of interviews to analyze the impact of conscription on their lives during it as well as their situations before and after. South Korea is in a temporary state of truce with North Korea, and　conscription is compulsory for its citizens for national defense. However, as conscription has long been entrenched in the nation, other purposes and　connotations have become attached to conscription in addition to simply national security. For example, values such as “finishing conscription=mature, reliable” and “not finishing conscription= immature” are firmly established in Korean society. Among them, the typical phrase, “when you go to the army, you become a man,” is a sign of masculinity defined in Korea and has long been accepted and used by Korean people. However existing research has not mentioned the meaning of conscription represented by “becoming a man”. For example, there are questions about what a “man” is and what it means among Korean men. In addition to "becoming a man", the words "becoming an adult" and "becoming responsible", which were frequently mentioned during the interviews, were also included in the survey because of their relevance to "becoming a man". As a result, although individuals had various interpretations of the word "man," there was no shared meaning among men. In addition, "becoming a man" and "becoming an adult" were synonymous, and " becoming responsible are associated to militarized masculinity.

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