Features

SEOUL, South Korea — After a three-year manhunt, military detectives found Sgt. Maj. Park No-hang sprawled on the floor of a high-rise apartment just one mile from the Defense Ministry, a skin-care mask over his face. 

The 50-year-old alleged mastermind of South Korea’s largest draft-dodging scam sat straight up after a dozen agents slipped through the door or clambered off fire ladders into the windows. 

“Yes Sir,” a shaggy-haired Park said, military-style, when they called his name. 

Investigators filmed the April 25 raid and national television broadcast the footage, heightening public fascination with a crime long associated with South Korea’s political and business elite. Local media call it “Draftgate.” 

Park’s peaceful surrender could help authorities unravel the latest subterfuge to hit the draft, the linchpin of South Korean defense ever since the 1950-53 Korean War against the communist North. 

But there is concern that the government will not aggressively pursue prosecutions in a case believed to involve dozens of wealthy draft-dodgers and their parents, as well as military corruption. 

“I hope the investigation won’t resemble earlier ones that ended with a few arrests of sports stars and TV celebrities, apparently for publicity’s sake,” said Ahn Tae-sung of Transparency International Korea, a private anti-corruption group. 

“What worries us is the high violation rate among the people with power and money,” The Korea Herald, an English-language daily, said in an editorial. 

Park was indicted in a military court Monday on charges of receiving $240,000 for helping 21 people evade military service or win cushy posts.  

The military promised a thorough investigation. 

Park is suspected of influence-peddling in at least 100 more cases of alleged draft-dodging in the late 1990s.  

A military investigator for 28 years, he could face at least a decade in jail if convicted. 

Since Park’s arrest, a television actress and four others were arrested for allegedly bribing him to have their sons exempted. Thirty others, mostly parents, were temporarily banned from traveling abroad. 

Military prosecutors detained two warrant officers accused of helping hide Park, who received food and clothing from his sister.  

A former two-star general who led the hunt for Park in 1998 is under investigation. 

Citing investigators, local media said Park bribed military doctors to alter medical records or swap X-ray films to make draftees appear sick. 

All healthy South Korean men must serve in the 680,000-member military for 26 months, with many assigned to the tense inter-Korean border.  

There is widespread suspicion that politicians and business leaders often arrange waivers for their sons, but evidence is scant. 

Some South Koreans refer to the privileged few who skip the draft as “shin eui adeul,” or “sons of gods.” The majority who serve are “odoom eui jasik,” or “sons of darkness.” 

Military service in South Korea, once a source of honor and popular fodder for bar talk, is increasingly viewed by college graduates as an obstacle to a fast career track in business or some other  

civilian venture. 

“If I could, I would bribe someone like Park to save my precious time,” said Lee Jin-yong, a 20-year-old student who has yet to serve.  

“If you don’t serve, you get a two-year head-start.” 

About 2.4 percent of 400,000 potential draftees were exempted last year, but there are no estimates of how many cases were illegal. 

English-speakers covet liaison work on the bases of the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. The well-equipped U.S. facilities are the envy of South Korean conscripts, who often complain about harsh, overbearing commanders in their own military. 

Park went into hiding in 1998 after the arrest of a recruiting officer who allegedly brokered his cases.  

The government sentenced the accomplice, Won Yong-soo, to eight years in jail and indicted about 160 people, mostly parents. 

Some received suspended prison terms and some cases are pending.  

Their sons were ordered to serve in the military. 

Life is tougher for conscripts in poor, totalitarian North Korea, where many in the 1.1 million-strong military must serve at least a decade.