To dodge South Korean draft, some try to gain weight fast

In South Korea, it takes extreme circumstances for young men to gain exemptions from mandatory military service. Still, some have set their hopes on doing whatever it takes to avoid conscription — even if it means gaining so much weight that they are deemed physically unfit for the armed forces.

This month, South Korea’s Military Manpower Administration said that a group of 12 college students studying classical music in Seoul tried to gain a huge amount of weight before the medical exams that would determine their fitness for military service. The students drank protein powder to put on weight ahead of their appointments, and some even drank a heavy aloe vera juice the day of the exams to appear even heavier than they already were.

The Military Manpower Administration said in a statement that “the classmates shared tips on how to gain weight in an online chat room.” That may be how the military figured out they were gaming the system: Officials reportedly acknowledged using “digital forensic technology” to figure out that it wasn’t a coincidence that the music students all put on so much weight before their appointments.

“The Military Manpower Administration, via thorough investigation, will do our best to root out military service evasion crime and make an example of the violators so that a fair and just military service culture can take root,” South Korean authorities said in a statement, according to CNN.