Police Crack Down on Draft Dodgers

Police are expanding a crackdown on draft dodgers after requesting arrest warrants yesterday for 43 people, including athletes, for evading military service.

Police in the Ilsan district of Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, said yesterday that they will investigate three doctors at a hospital in Seoul’s Gangnam district next week. The doctors allegedly performed operations for shoulder joint dislocation on those who sought to evade military service.

Forty-five suspected draft dodgers are under probe and police will request arrest warrants for 38 people who have confessed to this crime.

Among the 204 people on the investigation list are a pro soccer player, a member of the national volleyball team, and a popular pro gamer. The volleyball player admitted to his crime, police said.

Police will also send medical documents for the soccer player, including MRI records, to experts to identify whether the documents belong to the player and if his symptoms were severe enough to get surgery.

An additional 159 suspected draft dodgers are also under investigation.

Separately, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency requested arrest warrants yesterday for a broker and a paroxysmal heart failure patient. The two are suspected of helping men avoid the draft and instead perform alternative service.

Police also requested arrest warrants for three people, including a race car driver, on charges of bribing the broker and patient to get false medical documents.

Investigators also tracked those born between 1980 and 1990 and 12 people exempt from military service or who performed alternative service. The suspects are being probed if their exemption and reduced military service were legitimate through inspection of physical examination data.

bibulus@donga.com yunjung@donga.com