Conscription in South Korea
The basis for military conscription in South Korea is the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, which was promulgated on July 17, 1948. The constitution states in Article 39, "All citizens shall have the duty of national defense under the conditions as prescribed by Act." The Military Service Act of 1949, which was implemented in 1957, specified that compulsory military service is required for men ages 19 or older. Conscription is managed by the Military Manpower Administration, which was created in 1948.
Korean War POWs detained in North Korea
The UN forces found that many of the prisoners it captured were former South Korean citizens who had been enlisted into the Korean People's Army (in many cases, allegedly against their will). Many of the Chinese soldiers who were captured were former Nationalists who had been enlisted into the Chinese People's Liberation Army after the defeat of the Nationalist armies in China in 1949. Large numbers of such prisoners did not want to be returned to North Korea or Communist China. Because of such prisoners, the UN Command was reluctant to abide by a literal interpretation of Article 118 of the Geneva Convention which states that all POWs were to be "released and repatriated without delay after the cessation of active hostilities." The UN wanted a voluntary repatriation where POWs could choose which side to return to. The Communists insisted on a full all-for-all exchange according to a literal interpretation of Article 118.