Song Min-ho receives suspended prison term in South Korean military service case

A South Korean court has convicted K-pop singer Song Min-ho of violating military service law and handed him a suspended one-year prison sentence, a result that leaves him free unless he breaks the law again during the probation period. The 33-year-old, also known as Mino and a member of Winner, was found to have missed work repeatedly while serving as a social worker in Seoul.

The court said on Thursday that the sentence is suspended for two years. During that time, he will avoid incarceration if he does not commit another crime. According to the court, Song recorded 102 unauthorised absences during his 21-month stint at a community centre, where he worked from 2023 to 2024 instead of doing regular military service.

South Korea requires all able-bodied men to serve at least 18 months in the military, though some are assigned to social service for health reasons. The court said military service is a duty to be performed faithfully and that social service agents are no exception. It also took into account Song’s admission and remorse.

The case drew attention after he was discharged in 2024, when local media reported that he had been frequently absent from his duties and had taken excessive sick leave. Authorities then opened an investigation. His supervisor at the social service centre also received a suspended jail sentence for helping him avoid his duties, including by falsifying records to make it appear that Song had reported to work.

The dispute sits within a broader South Korean habit of treating entertainers’ military obligations as a public matter rather than a private inconvenience. Psy, the singer behind Gangnam Style, had to enlist twice after a Seoul court ruled that he had neglected his duties during his first stint while continuing his showbiz activities. Steve Yoo, one of the country’s biggest pop stars in the 1990s and early 2000s, later became embroiled in scandal after being found to have evaded military service in 2002; South Korean authorities banned him from the country after he renounced his citizenship and became a US national shortly before he was due to serve.

Ahead of Thursday’s ruling, Song told reporters that he regretted his actions and was sorry toward the people who had given him so much love, according to Seoul Economic Daily. He did not answer a question about whether he would re-enlist to fulfil the mandatory duty. For South Korea’s entertainment industry, the lesson is hardly subtle: military service can pause a career, but it does not pause the rules.

Written by Christiane Hofreiter christiane.hofreiter@alpineweekly.com