Song Min-ho: Okay-pop star convicted of violating army service regulation

A South Korean courtroom has handed a suspended one-year jail sentence to Okay-pop singer Song Min-ho after he was convicted of violating the nation’s army service regulation.

The 33-year-old member of the boy band Winner was discovered to have been absent a number of occasions at a group centre in Seoul, the place he had labored as a social employee from 2023 to 2024.

All able-bodied males in South Korea must serve at the least 18 months within the army. But some are alternatively assigned as social service personnel for well being causes.

The jail sentence handed on Thursday is suspended for 2 years. That means he can keep away from incarceration if he doesn’t commit any crime throughout that two-year probationary interval.

The courtroom heard that Song, who can also be recognized by his stage identify Mino, had recorded 102 unauthorised absences throughout his 21-month stint as a social service agent.

Military service is an obligation to be carried out “faithfully”, and social service brokers are “no exception”, the courtroom mentioned.

But the courtroom additionally famous that Song had admitted to the fees and proven regret.

Authorities launched an investigation into Song shortly after he was discharged in 2024, when native media reported that he was often absent from his social service duties and took extreme sick go away.

Song’s supervisor on the social service centre was additionally given a suspended jail sentence for serving to him dodge his duties, together with falsifying information to make it seem like Song had reported to work.

The conscription of South Korea’s entertainers has lengthy been a subject of nationwide public debate.

Gangnam Style singer Psy famously needed to enlist twice, as soon as in 2003 and one other time in 2007, after a Seoul courtroom dominated that he had uncared for his duties by persevering with his showbiz actions throughout his first nationwide service stint.

Steve Yoo, one of many nation’s greatest pop stars within the Nineties and early 2000s, was embroiled in a nationwide scandal after he was discovered to have evaded army service in 2002. South Korean authorities banned him from the nation after he renounced his citizenship and have become a US nationwide shortly earlier than he was as a result of serve within the army.

Going on hiatus to serve within the army is usually a menace for budding careers in South Korea’s fast-moving leisure trade. But the evasion of army service additionally comes with intense public scrutiny and authorized repercussions.

Ahead of the ruling on Thursday, Song advised reporters that he regretted his actions and was “sorry towards the individuals who gave me a lot love”, Seoul Economic Daily reported.

But he didn’t reply a query about whether or not he would re-enlist to serve the obligatory obligation.