SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean man hoping to avoid mandatory military service has been convicted after trying to eat his way out of it.
The man, who has not been publicly identified, was found guilty of dodging national service after he deliberately tried to gain so much weight it would make him ineligible for combat duty, an official at the Seoul Eastern District Court told NBC News on Tuesday.
He was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for two years, under the Military Service Act, which allows for sentences of up to three years for evading mandatory military service without justifiable cause.
South Korea requires almost all able-bodied male citizens between the ages of 18 and 35 to complete a minimum of 18 months of military service, in a controversial policy that dates to the 1950s after the Korean War.
The court said the man had doubled his daily food intake and consumed excessive water ahead of his physical examination for the national military draft. At his initial exam in 2017, he was assessed at Level 2, the second-highest level, qualifying him to serve in a combat position. But when he went for another physical examination last year he was assessed at Level 4, the weight gain having resulted in a body mass index that classified him as obese.
The assessment meant he would be spared from combat duty and instead assigned a non-combat role at a government agency that allowed him to commute from home.
The court official said the man got the binge-eating idea from a friend, who was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for one year. The friend denied the accusation in court, claiming he did not think the man would follow through on the suggestion.
The sentences were “relatively lenient” because neither of the men had previous criminal convictions, the court official said.
“Most of all,” the official said, the man “accepted his wrongdoing and vowed to serve his military duty sincerely.”
The official could not confirm whether the man had started his military service.
Stella Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea, and Seyed Ismail Nafeesa from Hong Kong.
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