Man handed suspended jail term for enlisting for someone else
A South Korean man who enlisted in the military on behalf of someone awaiting service has been sentenced to one year and six months in prison, suspended for two years, a local court said Friday.
The 28-year-old defendant, Cho, made a deal with Choi, a man in his late 20s, to take his place in the military and split the salary. Cho enlisted at Nonsan Army Training Center in South Chungcheong Province, a facility that provides basic training for Korean soldiers, last July, according to police investigations.
To undergo a medical and physical assessment before enlistment, Cho submitted Choi's resident registration card and a Nara Sarang check card, issued to all military service applicants, to the Military Manpower Administration, a government agency responsible for enlistment and personnel affairs regarding the nation's mandatory military service.
Cho passed the examination and enlisted in the military, continuing service under Choi's identity for three months.
Police investigations revealed that Cho, who had completed his compulsory military duty, attempted to reenlist to earn money due to financial difficulties. He received a total of 1.64 million won ($1,135) as compensation for enlisting.
The steady salary increase in the military was a strong motive for his crime. In 2025, the salary for a sergeant is 2.05 million won, a roughly 236 percent increase from 610,000 won in 202, according to the MMA.
The crime was uncovered when Choi voluntarily reported it to the MMA in September last year. This type of "proxy enlistment" is the first of its kind in the country since the establishment of the military agency in 1970.
Given that Cho's actions were motivated by financial hardship rather than an intention to avoid military service, the local court handed down a suspended jail sentence to him, who had earlier been indicted on charges of fraud, violation of the Military Service Act, obstruction of official duties, and violation of the Resident Registration Act.
The court stated, "The crime of impersonating another person to enlist in the military is a serious offense that undermines trust in national administrative procedures and warrants severe punishment. However, the defendant, already discharged from the military, does not appear to have committed the crime to help another evade military service. Rather, it seems to have been driven by financial hardship, with no other motive beyond receiving the salary."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
8 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Bills to probe Yoon, wife pass National Assembly
Bill on suspected interference in investigation of Marine's death also passed; Presidential office says 'there is very little reason' to veto them The ruling Democratic Party of Korea-controlled National Assembly on Thursday passed contentious bills mandating special counsel probes into charges and scandals surrounding former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife, Kim Keon Hee. Three probe bills reintroduced by the Democratic Party were approved during a parliamentary plenary vote held in the afternoon. One pushes to launch a permanent special counsel to investigate 11 charges tied to Yoon's failed martial bid in December; another seeks to mainly investigate Kim's alleged inappropriate interference in the People Power Party's candidate nomination process in previous general and by-elections as well as her luxury bag scandal; the third looks into the allegations that the Yoon administration interfered in the military's investigation into a young Marine's death in 2023. All three bills were passed in a 194-3 vote with one abstention, in a package deal. The move came a day after President Lee Jae-myung, who was the Democratic Party Chair, was sworn into office. He won Tuesday's early election, securing 49.42 percent of the vote against his rival and People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo, who saw 41.15 percent. Lee was highly likely to approve and endorse the bills, as an official at the presidential office said, 'there is very little reason' to veto them, with all three 'receiving People's support,' in a press briefing after the plenary vote. People Power Party, which became the main opposition party on Wednesday, highlighted its party line against the passage of the bills ahead of the plenary vote. The majority of the party lawmakers boycotted all three votes. All three bills passed on Thursday had previous versions that were scrapped by former President Yoon's veto power. The bill mandating a permanent special counsel investigation against Yoon will look into 11 different charges tied to his martial law bid, including insurrection and military mutiny. The previous versions of the bill were vetoed and scrapped twice. The latest version expanded the scope of the charges from six to 11. Special counsel candidates will be nominated by the Democratic Party and the minor liberal Rebuilding Korea Party, from the parliament's side. The bill also eases regulations to access presidential archives. It lowers the threshold from the current approval needed from two-thirds of lawmakers or from a high court chief judge to three-fifths of the Assembly or permission from a district court chief judge. The bill concerning the first lady will look into her alleged role in a stock manipulation scandal as well as the inappropriate acceptance of a luxury bag from a Korean-American pastor and election-related scandals involving political broker Myung Tae-kyun. An amendment passed alongside the bills expands the scope of the number of assistant special prosecutors from four to seven and raises the cap on dispatched prosecutors from 40 to 60.
Korea Herald
10 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Mammoth probes to look into Yoon's alleged treason, insurrection
Special teams size of a district attorney's office to be formed to investigate ex-president Multiple probe teams together comprising some 120 prosecutors are set to look into allegations surrounding former President Yoon Suk Yeol, including one that he committed treason by trying to impose martial law on Dec. 3, 2024. The Democratic Party of Korea on Thursday passed a series of bills seeking to open three separate special counsel investigations. One will investigate whether Yoon's short-lived martial law declaration would constitute insurrection, for which a criminal trial is already underway, as well as treason. The Democratic Party claims that Yoon plotted to provoke a military action from North Korea to justify declaring martial law with his hawkish policies such as resumption of anti-Pyongyang broadcasts near inter-Korean borders in June 2024. The Democratic Party is also pushing an as-yet unsubstatiated claim that Yoon sent unmanned aerial vehicles into Pyongyang in October 2024. Yoon allegedly attempting to instigate an armed conflict with North Korea in the run-up to his martial law decree was "treason," the Democratic Party claimed, on top of it being a "rebellion against the Constitution, which is to say, insurrection." Another special counsel investigation would revisit the death of a Marine in July 2023. Cpl. Chae Su-geun, 20, died when he was swept away in moving water during a search and rescue operation to locate flood victims in a rain-swollen river in Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province. The Democratic Party claims that the Yoon presidential office tried to hinder a preliminary investigation into if there had been negligence and other wrongdoing at the top in Chae's death. Yoon's wife Kim Keon Hee is also set to face a special counsel investigation into allegations that she interfered in the People Power Party's nomination of candidates for a National Assembly seat. The Democratic Party voted without the People Power Party to pass the special counsel bills Thursday. The Democratic Party has the majority in the Assembly, holding 167 out of 300 seats.
Korea Herald
15 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Teen who posted 'death threat' against Lee says he did it for attention
College student said it was a spontaneous move, after he turned himself to police South Korean police officials said Friday they have wrapped up their investigation into an online threat against President Lee Jae-myung during his campaign last month, after they found that it was just a prank by a teen to get attention. The cybercrime unit of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said it will soon hand over the case to the prosecution. The suspect turned himself in to the police and admitted the charges. The suspect on May 26 wrote on the Ajou University page of the online board for college students across the country, "I'll pay whoever stabs Lee today money," at around 10:51 a.m. This was shortly before Lee was slated for a meeting with the students of the university. No one actually attacked Lee, and he left the school unharmed at around 12:40 p.m. that day. Lee, who was stabbed in the neck in January of 2024, had been subject to series of threats during the presidential campaign but no actual attack occurred. Police were able to pinpoint the person who wrote the problematic post fairly quickly, as the anonymous website mandates members to prove that they are affiliated with each universities via official documents. With the police launching investigation, the suspect confessed on May 27. He said he wrote the posting at the spur of the moment to get attention, and he decided to turn himself in after he got scared when people wrote on the online board that they would report the case to the police.
