The Seoul High Court revoked a lower court's community service order for a convicted U.S. soldier stationed in South Korea on Wednesday.
It overturned a lower court's ruling that sentenced the unidentified soldier, 22, to a 20-month jail term suspended for three years and 120 hours of community service.
The high court upheld the suspension but ruled the community service order was not appropriate, arguing that the applicable law does not apply to those subject to military law.
He was charged and convicted for robbing a supermarket in the city of Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, in August 2008. He had appealed the lower court ruling, citing practical difficulties such as the language barrier in executing his community service.
Some 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War.