WINNER's Song Min-ho given suspended prison sentence over military service absences

WINNER member Song Min-ho was convicted of violating South Korea's Military Service Act at Seoul Western District Court on Thursday, 1 October, and given a one-year prison sentence suspended for two years. The ruling concerns 102 unauthorised days away from his alternative service assignment in Seoul; it is a first-instance judgment and was not final when reported.

The decision resolves the criminal case at this stage, while leaving a further question about his service obligation. The Korea Times reported, citing an official who spoke to Xportsnews, that Song could have to make up the days he missed if the judgment becomes final. No date or practical arrangement for any additional service has been established in the reviewed reports.

What the Seoul court found about Song Min-ho's absences

Song, also known as Mino, served as a social service agent at facilities in Seoul's Mapo District from March 2023 to December 2024. Yonhap News Agency reported that he failed to appear at his duty station on 102 days during that period. The absences were not consecutive.

Hankookilbo identified Judge Sung Jun-gyu of the court's Criminal Division 10 as the judge who delivered the sentence. It reported that the court found the charges against Song proved. The court's decision, as reported by Yonhap, was a one-year prison term suspended for two years.

Prosecutors had sought an 18-month prison sentence for Song, Yonhap reported. Hankookilbo said the court weighed his admission of the offences and remorse when deciding the sentence. The newspaper also reported that the court considered his health condition among the mitigating factors. The suspended term is the sentence imposed at this first stage of the case.

Why Song's service supervisor was also sentenced

The case also involved the person responsible for supervising Song's service. Hankookilbo reported that the supervisor was convicted and received a 10-month prison term suspended for two years. The newspaper said the supervisor made false attendance entries or recorded leave when Song did not attend, and that the court treated the supervisor as a co-offender.

That finding matters to the account of the absences: the court case addressed both Song's failure to report and the records used to account for his attendance. Hankookilbo reported that the supervisor knew Song was absent but signed service records as though he had attended. The supervisor's sentence was separate from the one imposed on Song.

What could happen if the ruling becomes final

The first-instance ruling had not become final when The Korea Times published its report. The paper, in an article adapted from Xportsnews, cited a Military Manpower Administration official as saying Song would have to serve again for the number of days he had been absent without authorisation if the ruling became final. On the court's finding, that would amount to 102 days.

Further service therefore remains a conditional prospect, rather than a confirmed schedule. The reviewed reports do not establish whether Song or the supervisor will appeal, when the judgment might become final, or how any additional service would be arranged. Before the ruling, Yonhap reported, Song did not answer reporters' questions about whether he planned to serve again.

South Korea's alternative service requirement

Yonhap reported that able-bodied South Korean men generally must complete at least 18 months of military service, while some people are assigned alternative forms of service. Song's assignment was as a social service agent rather than an active-duty soldier. The requirement that such agents fulfil their duties was central to the court's reasoning, according to Yonhap's account of the ruling.

Before the judgment, Song told reporters that he regretted his actions and apologised to those who had cared for him, Yonhap reported. His remarks came ahead of the court's decision and do not answer the remaining procedural questions. For now, the established outcome is the conviction and suspended sentence at first instance, with any make-up service dependent on the ruling becoming final.