South Korean man is convicted after binge eating to avoid military service
A South Korean man hoping to avoid mandatory military service has been convicted after deliberately trying to gain so much weight it would make him ineligible.
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.
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