Two South Korean golfers need to finish on the podium at the Olympics today to avoid completing 18 months of mandatory military service. World No.20 Tom Kim has been partnered with Scottie Scheffler in Paris, while Ben An will also hope to avoid conscription.
Korean law requires young men to perform 18 months’ military service, and they must enlist before their 28th birthdays. Kim, 22, is one of golf’s most highly-rated young players and would miss a large chunk of his career if he were to complete military service.
An is 32 and claims to have had his own service postponed until 2035.
However, there are a number of ways to avoid being conscripted. One of the rules incentivises athletes winning medals as a promise of exemption.
In a bid to improve Korean performances at the Olympic Games, a rule was introduced in 1970 which meant medal winners would avoid military service. That has since been extended to winning gold at the Asian Games, which the South Korean football team won in 2022.
As a result, Tottenham forward Son Heung-min was allowed to continue his career in the Premier League and avoided returning home to enlist in the military.
Kim and An therefore have an extra incentive to finish on the podium at the Olympics. The former still has time on his side even if he does not win a medal in Paris this weekend. He still has the opportunity to succeed at the 2026 Asian Games and the 2028 Olympics before he turns 28.
An believes he has his conscription delayed until 2035 as he is considered a non-resident. His passport expires in 11 years’ time, giving him a while before he will be told to enlist.
“Your passport expires every year, for the guy who has not done military service. So, you have to renew it every year. How you renew is a little bit different for everybody.
“Some people go to grad school – there are many other ways but for me, it would be, I’ve got it delayed until 2035, I think. That’s when my passport ends. I think they consider me as a non-resident.”
Kim more bluntly added: “We have our service and it is what it is.”
He also rubbished comparisons with Sang-moon Bae, a golfer who had made huge strides on the PGA tour before a Korean court overruled his appeal against military service. He returned to the tour understandably rusty and never rekindled his best form.
“Just because it happened to him, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen to other people,” Kim told the Independent. “You can’t say [for sure] that it affected him. There could be different things that could have happened.”
