"Seeing Ghosts and Hearing Voices": Annual Increase in Cases of Military Service Evasion Detected

On the 8th, when the military personnel leave, the soldiers who were on leave, which had been controlled to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), are waiting for the train at Seoul Station. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-eun] The number of cases detected by the Military Manpower Administration for evasion of military service has been increasing year by year.

According to data submitted by the Military Manpower Administration to Hwang Hee, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, 47 cases were detected in 2015, 54 in 2016, 59 in 2017, 69 in 2018, and 75 in 2019. As of August 31 this year, 38 cases of military service evasion have been detected. From 2015 to August this year, a total of 342 cases of military service evasion have been uncovered. An official stated, "This year, the number of detections is expected to decrease compared to the same period last year due to a reduction in military physical examinations caused by COVID-19, but attempts to evade service continue."

Among the methods of military service evasion detected by the Military Manpower Administration’s special judicial police over the past five years, the largest proportion was "intentional weight control (115 cases, 33.6%)." The second most common was "feigning mental illness (68 cases, 19.9%)," followed by "intentional tattoos (58 cases, 17.0%)."

Other reasons included falsifying academic background (4.7%), hearing disorders (4.4%), spinal disorders (4.1%), intentional surgery (2.9%), livelihood reduction (2.6%), false disability registration (1.2%), finger amputation (0.9%), ophthalmic disorders (0.9%), and feigning orphan status (0.6%).

In 2017, there was a case where a person received a grade 4 classification claiming to have mental illnesses such as depression, but the Military Manpower Administration’s investigation confirmed that a false medical certificate had been obtained. There was also a case where an individual attempted to evade military service by falsely claiming hallucinations and auditory hallucinations, such as "seeing ghosts and hearing ghost voices," and was caught.

Additionally, in 2018, a person was classified as active duty (grade 3) due to some tattoos on the shoulder, but knowing that additional tattoo procedures at the time of evaluation would lead to prosecution, the individual underwent full-body tattooing for the purpose of military service reduction and was classified as supplementary service (grade 4), subject to social service personnel conscription, but was detected by the Military Manpower Administration.

Representative Hwang said, "We must track down military service evaders to the end to ensure a fair and honorable military service culture takes root," and added, "To prepare for increasingly sophisticated methods of evasion, it is necessary to strengthen the current Military Manpower Administration special judicial police system and actively utilize scientific investigation techniques such as digital forensic investigations."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.