A 26-year-old South Korean man was recently sentenced to one year in prison for deliberately binge eating in order to become obese and be declared unfit for mandatory military service.

Military service is no trivial matter in South Korea. It doesn’t matter if you’re a globally-known singer, a successful actor, or a billionaire; if you’re a healthy adult male between the ages of 18 and 35, you have to spend at least 21 months in the army. The most you can do is postpone the compulsory service, but you’ll have to go through it at some point. However, if you are declared unfit for service because of health issues, you’re off the hook. One young South Korean man allegedly tried to avoid serving in the military by binge eating and becoming obese. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out quite as he had planned and he now has to spend a year behind bars.

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The unnamed man was found guilty of deliberately gaining weight by doubling his daily food intake and drinking a large amount of water just before the physical examination for the military draft to increase his body weight. Apparently, the man followed a diet cooked up by a friend who was judged as an accomplice in this case. Evidence uncovered by South Korean authorities showed that the man followed a specific plan and constantly monitored his weight.

Documents presented to the Seoul Eastern Dongbu District Court showed that the 26-year-old man was originally assessed at grade 2 in his initial physical exam in October 2017, which made him eligible for military service, but in June 2023, he got a grade 4 because of his bulging frame. The 169-cm-tall man weighed 102.3 kilograms and had a body mass index of 35.8, making him unfit for the compulsory military service.

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The accused man was allowed to serve in a non-combat role at a government agency to which he could commute from home, but authorities found his increase in weight unusual, and an investigation revealed an attempt to evade mandatory military service without justifiable cause. He got sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for two years, while his friend got six months in prison suspended for two years. Interestingly, the accomplice maintained his innocence throughout the trial, claiming that he never thought his buddy would really go through with the plan.

Those found guilty of trying to avoid military service risk up to three years in prison, but the South Korean Court justified its lenient sentence by pointing out that the accused had no criminal record, admitted their crime, and vowed to undergo compulsory military service.