Like thousands of other Jehovah’s Witnesses who refused to join the military because of their religious beliefs, Lee Seung-ki will serve time in a South Korean prison.
But unlike those before him, Lee will not enter as a convicted criminal. He will be among the first conscientious objectors in South Korea allowed to perform alternative service — jobs like cook, janitor and clinic assistant — behind prison walls.
For three years starting Monday, Lee and 63 others will work, eat and sleep in prisons, though they will live apart from the inmates and will be allowed several weeks of leave. And unlike Jehovah’s Witnesses who served prison terms for their beliefs, they will have no criminal record to trail them for the rest of their lives.