South Korean man sentenced for binge-eating to avoid military service

South Korean males between the age of 18 and 35 are required by regulation to serve within the nation’s navy — or civilian service equal — for about a 12 months and a half.

The coverage, enacted in 1957 for able-bodied males, has remained in impact whereas the nation continues what’s technically a struggle with its neighbor to the north.

However for one man, exemption loopholes within the able-bodied necessities have been taken to coronary heart — and midsection — after he reportedly launched into a multiyear binge-eating bonanza, gaining greater than 44 kilos in an try and evade assignments historically reserved for one much less corpulent.

And it labored, kind of.

As an alternative of rapid navy service, the 26-year-old practically joined the ranks of jail inmates after the Seoul Jap District Court docket sentenced him to a suspended one-year time period for violating the nation’s service necessities.

The 5′6″ particular person, who reportedly weighed 183 kilos throughout a 2017 bodily examination, doubled his consuming routine on the behest of a good friend, who suggested the calorie crusader that he might as a substitute fulfill his conscription duties in a relaxed civilian position, similar to working at a group service heart.

The portly plot was a go, with the person going so far as quitting his job as a supply employee, in accordance with the court docket, merely unwilling to sacrifice valuable energy to the arduousness of transferring one’s physique.

In 2023, the person underwent one other bodily examination, reportedly after chugging water to tip the literal scales much more in his favor. He weighed in at simply over 230 kilos.

(It’s value noting {that a} strict weight loss program of MREs might have netted these positive aspects in a single or two months as a substitute of six years.)

The report didn’t specify how the person was caught.

Army conscription, in the meantime, stays a hot-button matter in South Korea, the place service typically places an unwelcome pause on skilled or educational pursuits.

South Korea’s Army Manpower Administration studies an annual common of fifty to 60 instances of navy exemptions or blatant dodging of navy service.

Few, nonetheless, are exempt if match to serve. All seven members of the wildly widespread Ok-pop supergroup BTS, for example, have donned their nation’s uniform, with the final members of the group slated to complete serving in June 2025.

The court docket overseeing the binge-eating case famous that the perpetrator vowed to meet his service.

For his advisory position within the scheme, the good friend, additionally 26, equally obtained a suspended one-year sentence.

The Related Press contributed to this report.