must do military service. But he has an exemption – Corriere.it

If there is one certainty in South Korea, it is that no one can escape military service. As well as Min-jae Kim, Napoli defender and one of the revelations of the last season. He cannot be available to Jurgen Klinsmann, coach of South Korea, precisely for this reason. The player will have to go through the three week training period. And he will therefore miss the friendlies scheduled for June 16 against Peru and 20 against El Salvador. Ultimately, the legislation is clear: all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 28 must serve with the armed forces for 21 months. But as mentioned, there are exemptions for athletes and personalities from the entertainment world who have won international competitions recognized by the authorities. Kim has already left Naples after last Sunday’s announcement at Maradona and arrived in Korea he was greeted by a hundred fans at the airport: it was a hectic season but I achieved my goals, he declared.

As for military training and exemption, there is an illustrious precedent: that of Heung-min Son, Tottenham midfielder, who only had to serve 21 days thanks to his victory in the 2018 Asian Games. And now it’s up to Kim to do the same. Conscription for three weeks. But Klinsmann will have to do without Jun-ho Son, midfielder of Shandong Taishan, arrested in China for corruption and despite the intervention of some emissaries of the Korean Football Federation, it was not possible to free him. Of course, we are all shocked by Jun-ho’s plight and he has our full support. We are taking care of him, he is getting our support. We don’t know his state of mind, we don’t know what his physical state is, but I think he deserves all the support we can give him, Klinsmann’s words. It should be remembered that according to some Chinese press organs, the Korean player was arrested on suspicion of having accepted bribes from non-state employees.