Yonhap News: Seungri should enter Army unless he requests draft delay

Seungri of South Korean boy band BIGBANG should join the Army this month if he does not request a conscription delay, the state military recruitment agency said Monday.

As police have been accelerating their probe into the sex-for-favors allegations surrounding the 28-year-old singer-businessman, speculation has risen that he could seek to defer his enlistment slated for March 25.

“Unless he submits a written request for postponement, he has to join the Army,” an official at the Military Manpower Administration told reporters. “If he has a relevant reason for postponement, as stipulated in the conscription law, we can deliberate on that.”

The conscription law stipulates that a man subject to mandatory military service can delay conscription if he works as a sailor on an overseas ship, lives abroad or is under detention or serving a prison term due to a criminal conviction.

All able-bodied Korean men are obliged to serve in the Army for 21 months, the Navy for 23 months or the Air Force for 24 months.

National Police Agency Commissioner General Min Gap-ryong told reporters that his staff will continue to investigate Seungri even after his enlistment.

“Our police cannot stop the investigation even if he joins the military,” Min told reporters. “We will carry out the probe in consultation with the defense ministry.”

Investigators are looking into the suspicion that Seungri used various nightclubs in Seoul’s posh Gangnam district for lobbying and even attempted to introduce escorts to foreigners to encourage them to invest in his business ventures.

He denies the allegations.

Source: Yonhap News