Song Mino, 33, a member of the K-pop group WINNER, will have to complete the remainder of his military service obligation after a guilty verdict over unauthorized absences from his workplace as a social service worker became final.
The Military Manpower Administration said on the 16th that the additional service was confirmed once the first-instance ruling became final. "Based on the ruling, we will review the exact length of the additional service and the assigned institution before notifying him," an official at the agency said.
On the 1st, the Seoul Western District Court sentenced Song to one year in prison, suspended for two years, for violating the Military Service Act. The case was heard by Judge Sung Jun-kyu. Neither Song nor prosecutors appealed, leaving the ruling intact.
Prosecutors said Song was absent without permission for 102 days while working as a social service worker at the Mapo District facility management corporation and a community amenity facility in Seoul from March 2023 to December 2024. That amounts to roughly a quarter of his approximately 430 required workdays.
A supervisor was also implicated in the lax service. The official in charge of managing Song's service knew he was not reporting for work but looked the other way, and signed attendance records as if he had shown up, according to the court. The court handed the supervisor a 10-month prison term, suspended for two years.
Song posted an apology on social media on the 9th, saying he would "faithfully carry out the remaining procedures and obligations."
Singer Psy is the best-known case of an entertainer serving military duty twice. Psy performed alternative service as an industrial technical worker from 2002 to 2005, but the completion of his service was revoked after it emerged that he had not diligently performed his assigned duties. He filed an administrative lawsuit against the decision but lost at the first instance in 2007 and eventually re-enlisted for active duty. In 2008, the Supreme Court also found no fault with the order to re-enlist.
Lee Jae-jin, formerly of the group Sechs Kies, followed a similar path. His enrollment as an industrial technical worker was revoked after it was established that he had performed work other than his designated duties. He lost his administrative lawsuit in 2008 and re-enlisted for active duty.
Comedian Son Heon-soo, who was performing alternative service as an industrial technical worker in 2006, also re-enlisted for active duty after being implicated in a military service exemption scandal. On MBC's "Human Documentary - I Like People" in 2020, he described the difficulties of his second enlistment, saying he "went into a state of panic on the second day at the training camp."
Song's case differs in method, however. For the earlier entertainers, the enrollment as industrial technical workers or the completion of service was revoked outright, requiring them to serve from the start as active-duty soldiers. Song, by contrast, will serve only the additional days matching the period he was absent without permission after being discharged from his social service posting.