A South Korean court has handed a suspended one-year prison sentence to K-pop singer Song Min-ho after he was convicted of violating the country's military service law. The 33-year-old member of the boy band Winner was found to have been absent multiple times at a community centre in Seoul, where he had worked as a social worker from 2023 to 2024. All able-bodied men in South Korea have to serve at least 18 months in the military.
But some are alternatively assigned as social service personnel for health reasons. The prison sentence handed on Thursday is suspended for two years. That means he can avoid incarceration if he does not commit any crime during that two-year probationary period.
The court heard that Song, who is also known by his stage name Mino, had recorded 102 unauthorised absences during his 21-month stint as a social service agent. Military service is a duty to be performed "faithfully", and social service agents are "no exception", the court said. But the court also noted that Song had admitted to the charges and shown remorse.
Authorities launched an investigation into Song shortly after he was discharged in 2024, when local media reported that he was frequently absent from his social service duties and took excessive sick leave. Song's supervisor at the social service centre was also given a suspended jail sentence for helping him dodge his duties, including falsifying records to make it look like Song had reported to work. The conscription of South Korea's entertainers has long been a topic of national public debate.
Gangnam Style singer Psy famously had to enlist twice, once in 2003 and another time in 2007, after a Seoul court ruled that he had neglected his duties by continuing his showbiz activities during his first national service stint. Steve Yoo, one of the country's biggest pop stars in the 1990s and early 2000s, was embroiled in a national scandal after he was found to have evaded military service in 2002. South Korean authorities banned him from the country after he renounced his citizenship and became a US national shortly before he was due to serve in the military.
Going on hiatus to serve in the military is often a threat for budding careers in South Korea's fast-moving entertainment industry. But the evasion of military service also comes with intense public scrutiny and legal repercussions. Ahead of the ruling on Thursday, Song told reporters that he regretted his actions and was "sorry toward the people who gave me so much love", Seoul Economic Daily reported.
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