A recent report from Bild allowed the German public a glimpse into the not-so-glorious world of mandatory military service in South Korea, specifically through Bayern Munich defender Kim Min-jae.
For those who don’t know, all South Korean men have to serve 1.5 years of military service, unless they have mental or physical disabilities. The service is particularly troublesome for athletes who compete overseas, as they are forced to cut their career short and go back to Korea, which makes their futures very uncertain.
But there is a way for players to get out of doing active service, which is to do the country proud in international competitions. However, even this law is restricted only to the Olympics and Asian Games. One must win a gold medal at the Asian Games, or a medal of any color at the Olympics, to be eligible for this law. There was one exception, though; when South Korea reached the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup, the team was granted military exemption due to the immense sensation it caused in the country. In Kim’s case, he got his military exemption by winning the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games, the competition that also secured the futures of stars like Son Heung-min and Hwang Hee-chan.
So what does an athlete do after he literally strikes gold? Well. it’s not that simple. For starters, since the athletes are only exempted from doing active service for eighteen months, they still have to receive basic training for four weeks, which Kim did right before he signed for Bayern two summers ago.
That would have been the end of it, but from July 2015, the athletes have had to complete 544 hours of community service to younger people or people who are less fortunate in society. This can be achieved through a variety of ways, with teaching children football the most common way for professional footballers. However, since this is not possible for players who are overseas, like Kim, they normally do online meetings with young people about other values that are important to being a successful sportsperson.
Kim’s service is not anything really hard, and definitely a lot easier than actively being a part of the military, but still something that cannot be skipped over. One error-prone player by the name of Jang Hyun-soo tried fudging his service records and got banned from the national team forever, much to the joy of the Korean fans.
So that’s how Kim is technically serving his country from the comfort of his home in Munich. It’s definitely an unorthodox concept for many around the world, but for Koreans, it’s considered a rite of passage. Kim is a Korean first and foremost, and he is doing his duty for his nation.
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