Sports Chosun
Seoul’s mayor Oh Se Hoon has ordered a comprehensive inspection of social service workers after WINNER’s Song Mino was accused of failure to show up for his mandatory military service.
In a post shared on his Facebook account, Oh explained that the uproar over Mino’s attendance was part of his mayoral duties to the city’s institutions to assure that social workers were fulfilling their duties.
“While I am confident that the majority of personnel carry out their duties in their assigned positions, I also believe that we must prevent the negligence of a minority from triggering a sense of disgruntlement,” Oh wrote.
The mayor added that the city would “adopt firm measures in accordance with the findings of its investigation and suggest improvements to the social service system to the Military Manpower Administration.”
The mayoral crackdown on attendance began with news that WINNER’s Mino had not only taken sick leave on his last day of military duty but had allegedly also manipulated his attendance sheet with help from a worker at his assigned community center.
Mino was soon under investigation by the Military Manpower Administration last Tuesday and was discharged from his service the following week.
The idol’s agency YG Entertainment denied the rumors, claiming that he took sick leave to receive medical treatment, which was corroborated by an employee at the community center who testified that the idol stuck it out with his service despite being physically unable to.
Under Korean law, all able-bodied adult men are required to undergo at least 18 months of compulsory military service.
Those who do not pass the physical qualification exam for active service but do not have debilitating health conditions, such as Mino, can fulfill their obligations as social service workers and are given alternative 21-month assignments at public institutions.
