Seoul Court Rules U.S. Prison Term Counts Towards Korean Military Exemption
A Seoul administrative court has ruled that a Korean-born man who served 14 years in a U.S. prison for armed robbery is exempt from mandatory military service in Korea. This decision extends the existing exemption for inmates to those who have completed their sentences overseas, a stance previously rejected by the Military Manpower Administration. The man, who became a permanent resident in the U.S. and was deported to Korea after completing his sentence last year, was convicted of robbery and aggravated assault in 2010. While a physical examination deemed him eligible for alternative service as a social service agent, he sought assignment to wartime labor service, which exempts individuals from peacetime military duty. The court sided with the man, asserting that the rationale for excluding inmates from active duty—to protect military discipline and maintain the quality of the armed forces—applies regardless of where the sentence was served. However, the court stipulated that such overseas prison sentence...
