A South Korean man has been convicted of gaining weight on purpose to avoid serving in the military, The Korea Herald reported on Sunday (Nov 24). The 26-year-old was sentenced to a year in prison, suspended for two years, under the Military Service Act. He reportedly doubled his daily food
How is that conviction even remotely legal? He just ate a lot.
I imagine that trying to avoid military service is illegal and that he carelessly told people why he was eating a lot.
Sure, but what twisted kind of law is that?
Like, would any country put you in jail during peace time (yes, technically Korea is still at war, but technically the third Reich also was never dissolved) for harming yourself? That law seems like a leftover of the military dictatorship.
If there was the intent to dodge the draft that way I can see why they are looking into that case.
With a sabre rattling neighbor like NK a country can’t really afford to have rather easy-to-exploit loopholes for draft dodging.
Basically all countries with mandatory military service have similar laws- in Germany it is “Wehrpflichtentziehung durch Verstümmelung” (which covers more than mutilation and has been used in similar cases), in Austria it’s “Herbeiführung der Dienstuntauglichkeit”, in Switzerland “Schwächung der Wehrkraft durch Verstümmelung”, in Finnland it’s “Avoidance of service”, in Sweden it can be found under treasonable offences, etc.
I see you’re familiar with South Korean law.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattooing_in_South_Korea
Not quite the same, but Finland will put you in jail for six months if you refuse your mandatory military/civilian service. Though technically speaking you are just doing your civilian service by sitting in jail instead at that point.
To avoid that you need to have a valid medical condition that prohibits you from serving. Being too obese is one of them.
For a country that had several coups since its founding, and a threat of an invasion from the north, and a small population, and a conservative culture, its pretty normal. Very fucked up, nonetheless.