The Republic of Korea (ROK) is not ready to allow conscientious objectors to perform a humanitarian alternative to compulsory military service because the public does not like the idea, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

Since 1948, all physically fit ROK men aged 18 to 30 have had to serve at least two years in the military. Nearly 5,000 men, mostly Jehovah's Witnesses, have refused to perform military service since 2001. Objectors are usually imprisoned for 18 months.

Seoul had touted the idea of introducing an alternative to conscription early next year, under which objectors would live and work in special hospitals and care for senior citizens, as well as the disabled, lepers and mental patients. The ministry said last year it would conduct studies and seek a national consensus on the issue.

A survey commissioned by the Defense Ministry and conducted by an independent polling company last month found that 68 percent of respondents oppose the introduction of an alternative system, the ministry said yesterday. The survey polled 2,000 adults by telephone and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.19 percentage points. The respondents were selected to represent a broad section of society from across the country, encompassing people of all ages, gender and education.

Those opposed to an alternative said the system could be abused to avoid the obligation of mandatory military service and that it would dampen the morale of soldiers, the survey found.

"We can say that it is still too early to allow an alternative service for objectors," ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said. He said the government would continue to study the issue and that the survey's results did not mean the idea of an alternative system had been scrapped altogether.

A ministry official speaking on customary condition of anonymity said there was no definitive criteria for finding a national consensus on the issue, but that the government was trying to gauge public opinion through hearings and polls.

The government has conducted one public hearing and one opinion poll, but plans to do more, he said.

The alternative proposal was drawn up under the liberal government of former President Roh Moo-hyun. Conservative critics claim it would undermine the ROK's conscription system aimed at deterring aggression from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The two Koreas are still technically at war after their 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.