Pop singer Psy

By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter

Pop singer Psy, 29, may be recalled for military service as he has been found to have neglected his duties at a software firm he worked for as an alternative to serving in the military.

All able bodied South Korean men are required to fulfill their military service at an armed camp for at least two years. In certain cases however the government allows those with technical expertise to instead work in companies that serve vital national interests. Psy, whose real name is Park Jae-sang, was able to evade compulsory military duty by working at a software developing company ostensibly fitting into the latter category.

But the prosecution found that Park evaded the draft after his uncle bribed the head of the software company to help the non-qualified singer get a job there. While employed there he neglected his duty by holding over 52 concerts and appearing on television shows during the employment period from 2003 to 2005, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The prosecution have not yet proved their case but will request the Ministry Manpower Administration to cancel the singer's employment contract, which will mean the 29-year-old will have to be enlisted again as a draftee or have to extend his alternative military service at another firm.

The singer's uncle allegedly bribed the head of the company by buying unnecessary software programs from the company, giving double the listed prices as compensation. Park was first hired as a programmer, but was later assigned easy tasks due to his technical inability, prosecutors said.

The prosecution indicted the singer's uncle and the head of the company without physical detention.

In the investigation into the overall draft-dodging scandal, the prosecution also found other cases.

The prosecution sought an arrest warrant for two heads of information technology companies on the suspicion of having offered alternative jobs to insufficiently qualified draftees after receiving money from them.

e3dward@koreatimes.co.kr