Volleyball player Cho Jae-sung (OK Financial Group), who attempted to escape military service with a ‘fake epilepsy’, has been severely punished with a five-year ban.
The Korean Volleyball Organization (KOVO) announced on Friday that it held a punishment committee for Cho’s “violation of the Military Service Act” at the federation’s conference room in Mapo-gu, Seoul, and decided on a disciplinary action of a five-year suspension.
Cho Jae-sung, an apogee spiker for OK Financial Group in the men’s V-League and a former national team member, is accused of trying to evade his military service by falsely being diagnosed with epilepsy through a military service broker.스포츠토토
He was initially classified as a Class 1 inductee in 2014, but in 2018, he was classified as a Class 3 inductee due to a dermatological condition, and in December of that year, he deferred due to illness. In October 2019, he received a third classification due to illness and postponed his enlistment to take a credit-banking course. Then, in December 2020, he paid a military service broker, Mr. Kumo, 50 million won to escape military service for epilepsy, and on February 9, 2022, he was judged to be in the fourth class of supplementary service due to a convulsive disease at the military service evaluation test.
KOVO said that it initially considered dismissal, but after considering various circumstances, it reduced the sentence to a five-year disqualification. As a result, Cho will be banned until June 14, 2028.
KOVO said, “Due to the public sentiment demanding severe punishment, the relative deprivation felt by other athletes if military service irregularities are not strictly dealt with, and the need to prevent recurrence through a worker bee system, we decided that a ban was appropriate,” adding, “He confessed to the crime from the beginning and actively cooperated with the investigation and trial, The court sentenced him to one year of imprisonment and two years of probation; the athlete’s family environment, motives leading to the crime, and the course of the crime were somewhat extenuating; and he is planning to fulfill his military service by voluntarily enlisting as a social service worker.”
“We also called on OK Financial Group to be more thorough in its management of the team and club operations.”
Cho was sentenced to one year in prison and two years of probation at his first trial last month. “Considering that he is a first-time offender and has confessed to the crime to investigative agencies, and that he has been notified to enlist in social service and is about to be drafted,” the Seoul Southern District Court Criminal Division 9 said in its sentencing reasons.