The South Korean State Admits It Does Not Own My Son

He, along with his fellow Amerasians, is exempt from mandatory military service in Korea because of his "distinct skin color" — Military Prepares for Multicultural Army Barracks. From the report:

Asian mixed-race men, dubbed ``Kosians,'' are now subject to the conscription system under a law revised in 2005, while ``Amerasians'' or ``Eurasians'' from a partnership between Koreans and Westerners, are exempted from the mandatory service because of their ``distinct skin colors,'' according to the Ministry of Manpower Administration (MMA).

Those who have distinct skin colors, such as black or white, are exempted because they might have difficulty mixing with Korean colleagues at barracks, an MMA spokesman. But if an Amerasian or Eurasian wants to serve, the ministry can review his joining the military, he said.

"For the mass of men there is no tyranny more onerous than that of military life," said the father of postwar American conservatism in 1946 — Russell Kirk on the Draft. Closer to home, my beloved Mississippian Yellow Dog Democrat granny, who wore a P.O.W. bracelet, advised me, rather commanded me, at a very young age, never, ever, to join the United States military. Thus, the fact that ours had for genereations been a "military family" ended with me.