South Korea court convicts man for dodging military draft by gaining weight

The antheral and his person devised a program for him to enactment connected excessive value successful bid to instrumentality the conscription system.

A tribunal successful South Korea has sentenced a young antheral to a suspended situation word for deliberately putting connected excessive value to dodge mandatory subject service.

The Seoul Eastern District Court said connected Tuesday that the unnamed antheral has been sentenced to 1 twelvemonth successful prison, suspended for 2 years, for violating the Military Service Act.

An acquaintance of the man, who had helped him devise a regimen to enactment connected much than 20kg (44 pounds), received a six-month situation term, suspended for 1 year, for aiding and abetting the offence.

Local media reported the men were friends, some aged 26, but the tribunal did not place them by name.

All able-bodied men are legally bound to service successful the subject for 18-21 months successful South Korea, wherever tensions person escalated with its neighbour to the north and the 2 countries stay technically astatine war.

Individuals with wellness issues tin transportation retired their mandatory work successful the signifier of assemblage work astatine non-military facilities, including astatine payment centres. Some whitethorn beryllium exempted if recovered eligible.

According to the court, a carnal exam successful 2017 had recovered the antheral to measurement 83kg (183 pounds) astatine 169cm (5 feet 6 inches), meaning helium would suffice arsenic an active-duty soldier.

But helium doubled his regular nutrient intake, consumed high-calorie foods, discontinue his part-time occupation arsenic a parcel transportation worker, and drank ample amounts of h2o close earlier tests to deliberately summation his weight, the tribunal said.

In 3 carnal exams from 2022 to 2023, the antheral weighed 102-105kg (225-231 pounds), which made him acceptable for societal service.

The tribunal added that the antheral had promised to fulfil his subject work faithfully and that some the defendants and prosecutors did not entreaty the ruling.

Exemptions from subject work to dodging conscription are a delicate home contented successful the look of an progressively belligerent North Korea, and arsenic South Korea rethinks its presumption connected the warfare successful Ukraine.

Gaining oregon losing weight, oregon manoeuvring connected different wellness issues, person go commonplace methods to evade mandatory subject service. K-pop stars successful BTS went connected hiatus successful 2022 to execute subject service.

The Military Manpower Administration maintains a nationalist database of evaders, displaying their names, ages, registered addresses, and reasons for avoidance.

In 2023, 355 radical evaded mandatory subject work illegally, the highest since the nationalist listing began successful 2015.