Counting on calories

With a military physical approaching, one South Korean man went on a special diet to make the cut. But the 26-year-old wasn’t trying to get in shape. According to a November ruling in a South Korean courtroom, the young man actually gorged on food and water in an attempt to make himself unfit for front-line service. At his initial physical exam in 2017, the accused man’s physical fitness placed him in the second-highest tier of the South Korean military’s physical fitness examination—good enough for combat duty. But as his 2023 military draft date approached, the man doubled his caloric intake and began packing on the pounds. At the time of his 2023 physical exam, the 5-foot-6 man weighed 225 pounds, qualifying him only for a desk assignment far away from potential combat. The court sentenced the draft dodger to a one-year suspended prison sentence and tacked on a six-month suspended sentence for the man’s friend who helped devise the meal plan. In 2018, a dozen young South Korean men faced accusations of binge eating to avoid the nation’s mandatory military service, with one man reportedly gaining 66 pounds in the six months before his physical.