A National Assembly committee approved bills to implement an alternative military duty system for conscientious objectors to national conscription.

The parliamentary defense committee on Tuesday passed legislation establishing the terms for alternative duty. Those that refuse to enter into conventional military service will serve their country at correctional and other facilities for 36 months, nearly double the length of service for Army draftees.

A 29-member panel will be established under the Military Manpower Administration to review applications from current conscripts to transfer into the alternative system.

A bill to revise the Military Service Act states that those serving alternative duty who fail to respond to their draft notice without prior notification will face a prison sentence of up to three years.

Transfer applicants who falsely testify or submit forged documents will face a jail term of one to five years, while those who assist them will face one to ten years.

In June of last year, the Constitutional Court upheld the criminalization of conscientious objection but ordered the conscription law be amended by the end of 2019 to authorize an alternative service.