I left Vanderbilt for two years to do military service in Korea

Vanderbilt senior and Economics major, Dohan Kim, is from South Korea. He moved to the US at 14 to attend middle school in Texas. His family remained at home in Korea. Dohan then went on to study at high schools in Pennsylvania and Ohio before deciding upon Vanderbilt for college.

Dohan, who goes by the name Jeffrey in America, ended his sophomore year knowing that, by the time he began his junior year, most of his friends would have already graduated.

Male citizens of South Korea are obligated to complete at least 21 months of mandatory military service between the ages of 18 and 35.

South Korea is not alone in enlisting citizens for mandatory military service. Young men are enlisted for national service in many countries worldwide, including Finland, Israel and Russia.

How did you decide when you were going to leave?

When I came to America I didn’t know when I was going to do my military service. I decided to leave pretty suddenly after my sophomore year.

In hindsight, it would have probably been preferable to complete my 21 months after high school, before even coming to college. However, I realised during my sophomore year that it would damage my career options after college.

It would have made looking for jobs and accepting any offers very difficult.

After my sophomore year, I completed a summer internship at the financial consultant Deloitte and then went straight to South Korea’s military training camp.

I was only 21 at the time.

What did your job entail – were you fighting on the front lines?

South Korean military conscripts have a wide range of roles. Those who are musically gifted may be selected to entertain the troops and often students with medical experience are able to work alongside army medics. However, these more specialised fields are highly competitive and many conscripts are instead required to fill combative roles.

I absolutely thought I might be a regular army guy – given a gun and told to fight. You can’t pick a particular job.

However, in the end I worked alongside lawyers and judges in the army.

My job was pretty similar to what a public prosecutor’s secretary would do in the real world.

Did you enjoy doing national service? Were there any standout positives?

I got to meet a lot of people from different backgrounds. Some people were convicts, others hadn’t even gone to high school. It gave me time to grow mentally and think about myself and my future.

What was it like dealing with the different expectations that exist within the military?

Korean society is extremely hierarchical. If someone’s even one year older you have to treat them with more respect. In the military, that relationship is determined by rank rather than age.

Someone five years younger than you could be giving you orders. I didn’t like that, but I had to deal with it.

What was it like to be away for so long?

Although the experience was valuable and memorable, I resented the length of time required. It’s not even a year or a few months, it’s almost two years. It’s a long time.

Why do you think mandatory service still exists?

It’s because of the conflict between North and South Korea – that’s why we still have mandatory service.

It’s a divided country, there’s a truce but we’re technically still at war.

What was it like coming back to Vanderbilt?

Most of my friends had graduated and so I had to fit into different groups, it was kind of sad. But it also meant I got to meet lots of new people.

There were also lots more international students by the time I returned, which meant there were more people with similar backgrounds to me.

When I got back it was much harder to keep up with academics, mainly because English isn’t my first language.

It was hard to talk and write because I hadn’t used my English for two years. Even now, I find it harder to speak English than I did before I left for military service.

How does your life in Nashville compare to South Korea?

Nashville feels small compared to Seoul, the capital city of South Korea where I grew up.

In general, American students are not that interested in my culture. Students from bigger cities, like New York, are usually more open-minded though. Whenever someone is interested, the first thing they ask is “what do you think about Kim Jong-un or North Korea?”

I sometimes find it a little annoying but I do understand why they’re interested.

Dohan is now 25 and in his final year at Vanderbilt. He recently secured an internship in Florida at Deutsche Bank, which will take place in the summer.

He doesn’t know whether he will stay in the US or go back to Korea after he graduates. Either way though, his future looks bright. He won’t forget his time at Vanderbilt, or the experiences he had working for the South Korean military.