Song Min-ho Convicted of Violating South Korea’s Military Service Law

What changed

Song Min-ho, also known as Mino, has been convicted of violating South Korea’s military service law and given a suspended one-year prison sentence.

The 33-year-old Winner member recorded 102 unauthorised absences during a 21-month social-service assignment from 2023 to 2024. His sentence is suspended for two years, while his supervisor also received a suspended sentence for falsifying attendance records.

Why it matters

The ruling turns a celebrity attendance scandal into a formal legal penalty. Song will avoid prison if he commits no further crime during the two-year probation period, but the case leaves a direct question hanging over his military-service status: whether he will re-enlist remains unknown.

South Korea generally requires able-bodied men to serve at least 18 months. Some men are assigned to social service for health reasons, but the court made clear that the alternative still carries the same basic obligation: show up and perform the work faithfully.

Song admitted the charges and expressed remorse. That likely helped explain the suspended sentence, but it does not erase the scale of the finding. The case also reached beyond the singer himself, because his supervisor was convicted after helping make missed shifts appear legitimate.

The effect on Winner’s future activities has not been reported. For now, the measurable change is narrower but significant: Song has two years of probation, a criminal conviction, and an unresolved question about whether his service is truly finished.