Entertainment soldiers sent to stockades

Colonel Whi Yong-seob, the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of National Defense, gives a brief about the closure of the entertainment soldier program.

By Isaac Kim

Seven celebrity soldiers were sent to the stockade for visiting a brothel disguised as a massage parlor after curfew.

“Seven out of eight entertainment soldiers were sentenced to the stockade, and one soldier was punished with probation,” said an official from the Ministry of National Defense (MND) Thursday.

After a performance in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, Pfc. Choi and Lee went AWOL (absent without leave) and went to a prostitution establishment.

Sgts. Kim, Kang, and Cpls. Lee, Kim, and another Lee have to carry out a four-day sentence in the stockade for using cell phones on base, which is forbidden for conscripts. Cpl. Lee faces a 10-day sentence for going AWOL to see a movie after his performance.

“The two soldiers who went to a brothel said they were looking for a massage at Thai or Chinese parlors. However, they said the parlors were closed so they visited a massage parlor, but came back out when they found it to be a brothel,” explained the ministry official. “They said they had no intention of engaging with prostitutes and that their sole objective was to receive physical therapy.”

The soldiers with the phones had not expected to be sent to the stockade, revealing how lax and undisciplined they were.

The entertainment soldier program has been scrapped, and the celebrity soldiers in question will be sent to different parts of the army.