(An) Analysis of the Debate on the Revival of the Veteran’s Extra Point System from the Gender Perspective and its Challenge to the Women's Movement in South Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The revival of the “Veterans’ Extra Point System”(VEPS), which is a policy which automatically gives extra points to military veterans who take a civil service examination, so as to facilitate their social adaptation in reintegrating into civilian life, is still a controversial issue in South Korea although it was previously abolished by a decision of the Constitutional Court over thirteen years ago. The women’s rights movement in South Korea was the first to raise issue with the VEPS and launched a movement against it which was particularly active throughout the 1990s and helped lead to the 1999 judgment resulting in its abolition by the Constitutional Court of Koreaon the grounds that the system had brought about the result of keeping women and the differently abled from entering employment in the public sector. In reaction to attempts to revive the VEPS system by both the National Assembly and the presidential administrations from 2005, the women’s movement has taken consistent actions to block the revival of the system. However, the women’s movement has become unintentionally trapped in a genderconfrontation structure,which has dominated the controversy over the VEPS since itrestarted, immediately after the judgment to abolish the system in 1999. This ongoing controversy concerning the VEPShas resulted from an antipathy towards womenas a group due to the influence of deep-rooted militarism in the daily lives of South Koreans.The militarism is in line with the patriarchal social system in South Korea. The problem is that the gender confrontation structure of this issue has hindered the relevant debaters from finding a solution to resolve conflicts surroundingits revival and has also inhibited going a further step to develop an in-depth discussion about not only the role of the military and how the conscription system is based on gender hierarchy and discrimination, but finally how to build a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula.
In this respect, this study purposes to examine actions of the women’s movement against the VEPS to date and to reveal a limitation that the women’s movement has encountered. According to this examination, the actions of the women’s movement based on gender difference have been effective in terms of disclosing the aspects of gender inequality surrounding the VEPS. But this debate has exposed a limitation of the approach in that it does not thoroughly consider multiple differences within groups of women and of men as individual people with diverse identities; including gender identification, class, disability, and sexual orientation. Women are not a homogeneous group and neither are men. There are different types of discrimination and inequality caused by discrimination against people with various differences of gender, class, disability, and sexual orientation. These are also entangled in the issue of the Veteran’s Extra Point System.
Thus, I argue that the women’s movement resistance to the revival of the VEPS needs to consider the multiple differences within groups of women and men and by doing so reveal the complex power structure which is reproducing exclusion and discrimination. This power structure has been hardly properly visualized in the distorted gender defined confrontation structure of the controversy over the revival of the VEPS. In this process, it is suggested that the women’s movement should act jointly with other groups of marginalized minorities to expand dimensions of solidarity against complex social unequal structures, which include the issue of gender discrimination. A productive debate on appropriate and substantial compensation measures for veterans, as an alternative to the VEPS, will be possible to open at that time.

Keywords: the veteran’s extra point system, the women’s movement, the gender confrontation structure, gender hierarchy, militarism, sexism, gender difference, multiple differences

국문 초록 (Abstract)

국문초록
챔더 관점에서 본 군가산점제 부활 논쟁 분석과
한국 여성운동의 도전
경희대학교 평화복지대학원
국제평화전공 장유미
제대군인이 꽁무원 시험을 치를 시 가산점을 부여하는 제대군인가산정제
도(이하 군가산점제)의 부활 문제는 본 제도가 헌법재판소 결정으로 폐지된 지
13 년이나 지났음에도 불구하고 한국에서 여천히 논쟁적인 이슈이다. 한국 여
성운동계는 군가산점제가 여성과 장애언의 공직 진출을 저해하는 컬과를 낳는
것애 문제를 제기하고 본 제도를 반대하는 운동을 벌여 1999 년 마침내 헌법재
판소가 군가산점제 폐지 결정을 내리는 데 기여했다 2005년부터는 국회와 행
정부 내에서 군가산점제를 부활시키려는 움직엄이 있자 여성운동계는 본 제도
의 부활을 저지하기 위한 행동을 취해왔다. 그러나 1999 년 제도 폐지가 결정
된 이후 이미 보여진 바와 같이， 군가산점제 논쟁에서 여성운통은 의도치 않게
성대결 구도에 갇혀 왔다. 이는 한국의 가부장제와 함께 일상 생활에 깊게 뿌
리내련 군사주의의 영향으로 인한 여성 집단에 대한 혐오가 단적으로 표현된
사례이다. 문제는 이러한 성대결 구도가 군가산점제 부활을 둘러싼 갈등을 풀
어나갈 해결책을 찾는 것을 어렵게 하고 있다는 정이다. 나아가 젠더 위계와
차별에 기반한 군대와 정병제도， 분단된 한반도에서의 평화 구축 등에 대한 심
도 깊은 논의를 발전시켜 나가는 것을 어렵게 하고 있다.
이러한 문제의식을 바탕으로 본 연구는 군가산점제에 반대해 여성운동계
가 취한 행동과 그 한계를 검토하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 연구결과에 따르면，
남성과 여성의 차이， 즉 성차에 기반을 둔 운동 전략은 군가산점제를 둘러싼성 불평등한 측면을 드러내는 데 기여했으나 여성 집단과 남성 집단 내의 다
양한 차이를 고려하지 못하는 한계를 보였다. 한 개인은 성별， 계급， 장애， 성
적 지향 등에 따른 다양한 정체성을 갖는다. 여성들은 동질적언 집단이 아니며，
남생들 또한 마찬가지다. 군가산점제에는 성별， 계급， 장애， 성적 지향 등 사람
들 사이의 다양한 차이들로 인해 발생하는 서로 다른 유형의 차별과 불평등의
문제가 얽혀 었다.
따라서 여성운동계는 군가산첨제 부활에 반대하는 과정에서 여성 집단과
남성 집단 내의 복수적 차이들을 고려할 펼요가 있다. 이는 군가산점제 부활
논쟁의 성대결 구도에서 가리어진 문제， 즉 배제와 차별을 재생산하는 복합적
권력 구조를 드러낼 수 있다. 또한 이 과정에서 다른 소수자 그룹과 능동적으
로 연대하는 것이 필요하다. 이는 성 볼평등을 포함해 사회의 복합적인 볼평등
구조에 대항한 연대의 범위를 확장시킬 것이다. 그 과정에서 군가산점제에 대
한 대안으로 제대군언을 위한 질질적 보상 방안에 대한 생산적인 논의의 장을
열 수 있을 것이다.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
• 1.1. Statement of the Problem 1
• 1.2. Purpose of the Study 4
• 1.3. Scope and Method of the Study 6
• 1.4. Structure of the Thesis 6
• CAHPTER 2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
• 2.1. History of the Women’s Movement 8
• 2.1.1. The First and Second Wave of Women’s Movement 9
• 2.1.2. The Third Wave of Women’s Movement 10
• 2.2. The Review of Previous Studies on the Veteran’s Extra Point System 11
• CHAPTER 3. HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE VETERAN’S EXTRA POINT SYSTEM(VEPS) IN SOUTH KOREA
• 3.1. From Implementation to Abolition of the VEPS 17
• 3.1.1. The Implementation of the VEPS from the 1960s 17
• 3.1.2. The Abolition of the VEPS in 1999 20
• 3.2. Consistent Attempts to Revive the VEPS from 2005 24
• 3.2.1. Actions for Reviving the VEPS in the National Assembly 24
• 3.2.2. Actions for Reviving the VEPS in the Administration 29
• CHAPTER 4.THE ACTION AGAINST THE VETERAN’S EXTRA POINT SYSTEM(VEPS) AND THE CHALLENGE OF THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT
• 4.1. Responses of the Women’s Movement 33
• 4.1.1. The Review of the Women’s Movementagainst the VEPS 33
• 4.1.2. Limitation of the Action against the VEPS 45
• 4.2. Challenges of the Women’s Movement 48
• 4.2.1. Limitation of Gender Difference Frame 48
• 4.2.2. Beyond the Gender Difference: Considering Multiple Differences 51
• CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION 53
• BIBLIOGRAPHY 56
• KOREAN ABSTRACT 66