An inventive strategy. In South Korea, a 26-year-old man was found guilty of voluntarily gaining weight to be exempt from military service, The Korea Herald reports this Sunday, November 24.
The young South Korean was sentenced to one year in prison by the Dongbu district court, located southeast of Seoul.
In South Korea, military service is mandatory for all able-bodied young men. It should last 18 months. If this obligation is not respected, a sentence of up to 3 years in prison may be imposed.
An intensive diet
According to the South Korean newspaper, the twenty-year-old young man, whose identity has not been made public, had changed his diet following the advice of a friend who had established a specific diet for him before undergoing the medical examination.
After a first medical examination in 2017, during which he was declared fit for combat, without being immediately obliged to perform military service, he had doubled his daily food consumption and had considerably increased his water consumption.
This diet was effective, since the South Korean weighed 102.3 kg and was 1.69 meters tall, during his new medical examination carried out in June 2023. His body mass index (BMI) was then at 35.8, classifying him between cases of severe obesity.
The 26-year-old South Korean then got what he wanted: he was exempt from military service due to his weight. Instead, the South Korean military gave him a position in a government agency that did not involve combat and allowed him to stay home.
His friend also sentenced
In addition to the South Korean being exempt from military service, the court also sentenced the friend who gave him advice to gain weight. In fact, the latter was sentenced to six months in prison for complicity.
The friend, however, denied the facts, claiming to be convinced that the twenty-year-old would never follow his advice seriously.
The court said it had been especially lenient with the two defendants, whose criminal records were empty before this case. However, the twenty-year-old will have to do military service, whether or not he has extra kilos.
Source: BFM TV
