Police Launch Military Service Exemption Investigation

A controversy over the military service exemption has been reported: a group of baseball players, TV entertainers, and college students manipulated their urine tests and secured a military service exemption verdict.

For eight years, military service exemption brokers have helped young men get exempted from compulsory military duty. However, the conscription office has failed to catch them in the physical examination process. This controversy urges the existing loopholes in the conscription administration to be weeded out.

Investigation results-

An investigation team of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency kept brokers Woo (38), and Kim (29, a former minor league baseball player) in custody yesterday on charges of violating the military service law and aiding baseball players in getting military service exemptions by feigning kidney-related diseases during their physical check-ups after receiving bribes ranging from 30 to 45 million won.

In addition, the police kept Kim (23) of the “L” baseball team and two more baseball players, who got exemptions from military service on charges of breaking the military service law, and booked Son (23) on the same charge.

The police said that they would file arrest warrants today for six suspects: players on the “L” baseball team, Mr. Seo (24) and Mr. Kim (27), a player on “S” baseball team, Mr. Yoon (26), a high school baseball team coach, Mr. Eom (28), and two office workers, Mr. Lee (25) and Mr. Kim (23).

Until now, the number of baseball players, including former baseball players, who are in custody or investigated because of getting involved in the military service broker case has increased to 10.

Making a roundup of brokers, the police had a name list on hand with 80 names of baseball players, TV entertainers, office workers, and college students, and the investigation team is expanding its detection scope.

A police official said, “Half of the people on the list are baseball players, and the rest, who are TV entertainers and college students, seem to have contacted brokers through the people in the baseball arena.”

The police will investigate all the people on the name list regardless of the statutory limitation (three years) of the military service law.