Celtic star Yang Hyun-jun could be one of the last South Korean footballers to earn a military service exemption by winning an honour.
Yang has secured the right to skip the nation's mandatory military service, which applies to all able-bodied men. Men must report for military service for between 18-24 months between the age of 18 and 28.
But there is an exception for athletes who earn certain sporting honours, as well as artists who meed the success criteria. Those people only have to do three weeks of basic training, along with 544 hours of community service over 34 months.
Winning the Asian Games is one of the exceptions, and South Korea won the competition for a fourth straight time when they beat Japan over the weekend. Celtic star Yang was on the bench for the game after recently returning from a hamstring issue that plagued his tournament.
Yang was one of the three overage wildcard players, with the tournament primarily made up of under-23s players.
But after the final, some South Korean players have celebrated the military exemption a little too publicly, with captain Lee Gi-hyuk posting on social media: “Not going to the military”
He later apologised, writing: “Deeply sorry to the fans who are currently fulfilling their military duty, as well as to all those who sincerely supported us”.
On the back of that, there has been outrage aplenty, with calls for the exemption to be scrapped, and that could be in the workd.
South Korea ministry spokesperson Chung Binna has confirmed: “Ultimately, we have plans to cut back or scrap the supplementary service, including one designed for artists and athletes, and reflect it in the basic outline for defense reforms.”
Barring a major surprise, no changes will be made to the exemption secured by this South Korea team, but they could be one of the last teams to benefit from it, given the next opportunity will be at the Olympics in a couple of years.
Add us as a preferred source on Google