Professional volleyball player Cho Jae-sung, 28, of OK Financial Group, who was accused of trying to evade his military service through a military service broker, has received a suspended prison sentence in his first trial.
Judge Kim Yoon-hee of the Seoul Southern District Court’s Criminal Division 9 sentenced Cho to one year in prison and two years of probation on Thursday for violating the Military Service Act.
“He is a first-time offender and has confessed to all the charges against him by the investigating agency,” Judge Kim said in her sentencing reasons, 토토사이트 adding, “He has received a social service worker notice from the Gyeongin Military Recruitment Agency and is scheduled to enlist on the 25th of this month.”
“His defense attorney claims that he only wanted to postpone his enlistment date due to various difficult circumstances and had no intention of exempting himself from military service, but it is sufficiently admitted that he paid a large sum of money to a military service broker for the purpose of exempting himself from military service,” the court said, rejecting the claims of Cho and his defense attorney.
Cho was classified as Class 1 active duty at his first physical examination in October 2014, but in 2018, he was classified as Class 3 active duty, citing a skin condition (psoriasis), which delayed his enlistment.
Then, in December 2020, he allegedly handed over 50 million won to military service broker Koo Mo, consulted him on how to escape military service, and was diagnosed with a fake case of epilepsy, resulting in a class 4 supplementary service.
In the previous trial, the prosecution asked the court to “strictly punish the violation of the Military Service Act, but sentence him to one year in consideration of his confession.”
After the trial, Cho remained silent when asked by reporters how he felt about the outcome and if he had anything to say to his fans, before getting into his vehicle.
Earlier in the day, Cho had responded “I’m sorry” when asked “What is your stance on the sentencing today?” before attending the trial.