Korean Man Overeats To Evade Military Service, Gets Sentenced To Prison
According to recent reports, a Korean court has indicted a man in his 20s for evading national service by deliberately gaining weight to avoid conscription.
On November 24, KST, Korean media reported that the Seoul Eastern Dongbu District Court had sentenced the 26-year-old defendant to one year in prison, suspended for two years, on charges of violating the Military Service Act. This act stipulates that any person found guilty of evading military enlistment without a justifiable cause can be punished by up to three years in jail.
According to reports, the young man doubled his food intake deliberately to gain weight since being over a certain weight limit could nullify his conscription duties. He also drank a large amount of water right before the physical assessment for the military draft to tip the scale further. This diet plan was reportedly given to him by a friend who encouraged him to overeat to gain weight.
The friend in question was also found guilty of aiding and abetting despite denying the accusations. He was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years.
The defendant was assessed at the grade 2 level during his initial physical exam in October 2017. Anyone assessed at grade 2 is deemed fit for combat. But in June of 2023, in the final physical assessment, he received a grade 4 evaluation due to a drastically increased weight. He weighed 102.3 kg at 169 cm of height, making his body mass index 35.8— well past the demarcation for being considered heavily obese. This new assessment allowed the defendant to serve in a non-combatant role at a government agency while commuting from home.
During the sentencing, the court noted that both the defendant and his friend had no previous criminal record and, hence, decided on a lighter punishment for them. The defendant’s acknowledgment of his wrongdoings and vowing to fulfill his military service also helped push the ruling toward leniency.
