[Editorial] Reward or discrimination?

Few would disagree with a proposal to reward those who have completed military service. Still, two government agencies are pitted against each other when it comes to a proposal that extra points be given when they take examinations for recruitment as government employees.

The Ministry of National Defense demands the recruitment of government employees be weighted in favor of those who had to put their career or studies on hold for about two years when they were drafted for military service. It says it will come up with a detailed proposal Thursday.

But the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, which is vehemently opposed to the move, claims it would discriminate against women and physically disabled people. Citing a court ruling, the ministry says it goes against the Constitution.

It is not just the two ministries that are in conflict over the issue. The ruling Saenuri Party, which is also divided, has yet to make a decision on which ministry to support. The main opposition Democratic Party is against the proposal for extra points.

In 1999, the Constitutional Court ruled that the law that allowed 3-5 percent bonus points for those who had completed military service was unconstitutional. Though the court acknowledged it was necessary to compensate for the sacrifice they had to make, it said the extra points were excessive.

If so, all that needs to be done is lower the amount of extra points to a tolerable level. That is what the Ministry of National Defense is planning to propose. It is considering cutting the extra points to 2 percent of the total score.

To what level the extra points should be reduced must be made negotiable. But the problem is that the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is opposed to the reintroduction of extra points itself, claiming it would still be discriminatory, whether the benefit is reduced or not. It demands that compensation be made in other ways.

By refusing to budge on the issue, the ministry is ignoring a public consensus that is forming in favor of extra points. A recent survey shows that 7 of 10 Koreans support the proposal to give extra points to those who sacrificed two of the most valuable years of their lives for the defense of the nation. They certainly believe that giving extra points is a reward, not an act of discrimination against women or the disabled.