Why Song Mino's 102-Day Service Record Ended in a Suspended Sentence

WINNER's Song Mino received a one-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, after a Seoul court found he had gone unauthorized absent for 102 days during his mandatory alternative military service. The ruling, handed down October 1 by Judge Seong Jun-gyu of the Seoul Western District Court, means Song Mino, 33, avoids immediate imprisonment at the first-instance level.

The numbers behind the case are striking in their scale. Prosecutors put Song Mino's total mandatory attendance days between March 2023 and December 2024 at approximately 430, during which he was assigned as a social service worker at facilities operated by the Mapo Facilities Management Corporation in Seoul's Mapo district. Of those 430 days, he was absent without authorization on 102 of them, roughly one in four. Under the Military Service Act, unauthorized absence totaling eight or more days carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison, a threshold Song Mino exceeded by a wide margin.

The case came to light in December 2024 when reports of irregular service surfaced publicly. The Military Manpower Administration referred the matter to police, and prosecutors subsequently confirmed the full extent of the absences through mobile phone forensics and GPS records before indicting Song Mino.

What happened in court

At the first hearing in April, Song Mino admitted to all charges. Prosecutors asked for a sentence of one year and six months. In his final statement, he acknowledged his mental health difficulties but was careful not to frame them as an excuse, instead expressing a desire to resume and complete his service if given the opportunity. The court's sentence of one year, suspended, came in below the prosecution's ask.

Also sentenced on October 1 was the service supervisor, identified only as Person A, who was found to have been aware of Song Mino's absences and failed to report or manage them properly. Person A received ten months, suspended for two years. Prosecutors had sought one year. Both Song Mino and Person A denied that the absences were the result of prior coordination between them, and the court did not separately rule on a conspiracy finding in the sentences as reported.

The broader context

South Korea's alternative military service system, which allows eligible men to fulfill their conscription obligation through public-sector work rather than active duty, has faced periodic scrutiny over how strictly it is supervised. The Song Mino case is among the more prominent in recent years, partly because of his profile as a member of YG Entertainment's group WINNER and partly because the gap between his actual attendance and his required attendance was documented so precisely through digital evidence. That prosecutors were able to reconstruct 102 specific absent days from phone and GPS data reflects how thoroughly the Military Manpower Administration has updated its investigative toolkit since earlier high-profile service controversies.

The suspended sentence keeps Song Mino out of prison for now, though the case may proceed to appeals. His military service obligation remains unresolved pending further legal and administrative decisions.