Korean man jailed after gaining weight to avoid military service

A man in South Korea is off to jail after gaining weight to avoid being drafted into the military. The man, not named in reports, gained 44 pounds when his number came up. This placed him in a category that allowed him to do the national service required of young people in a community center rather than the army.

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An exam in 2017 found the man suitable to become an active-duty soldier at 169 centimeters (5 feet 6 inches) tall and weighting 83 kilograms (183 pounds). But with the advice of his acquaintance that he could get a social service grade if he was overweight, he doubled his daily food consumption, focused on eating high-calorie food products and quit his part-time job as a delivery worker, according to the court's public affairs office.

South Korea has the draft due to the ongoing threat and state of war with the North. About 50-60 cases of draft dodging hit the courts each year, according to the Associated Press, with weight gain among the usual tricks.