Takeaways from the Asian Games + The Military Exemption Controversy

Controversy is never in short supply for Korea – in the past few weeks we’ve seen Kim Min Jae throw his shoes and make (valid) criticisms to the media, the ’96 line (Kim Min Jae, Hwang In Beom, and Hwang Hee Chan) reportedly considering retiring from the KNT, and in the wake of our fourth consecutive Asian Games gold medal in men’s football, several players said the controversial yet quiet part out loud – that they were playing for exemption.

Background: I probably don’t need to repeat this every time we discuss this because most of our readership is Korean diaspora, but we have mandatory military service for men in Korea. For athletes who are in their prime and have a career only spanning ~10-15 years, it’s a near-sentence for their careers especially a European leagues-based career. No top European team wants their signing to be yanked away in their prime. Hence there are a few ways around military service – gold medal at the Asian Games, or any medal at the Olympics. The idea was that this would provide motivation for athletes and get us more medals.

This raises the question – why do only athletes get a path to exemption? There are other ways individuals can honor our country. And another question contributing to intense social debate and gender disparities in Korea – is it fair that only men have to lose two years of their career? This is an endless quagmire we could get into, but what I’m trying to say is that the “athletes getting military exemption” policy was always a LITTLE bit controversial, but this year the question was starting to be asked more and more.

At the worst possible timing… a few footballers seemingly forgot that you’re NOT supposed to say the quiet part out loud. Let’s get directly to the quotes:

Yang Min Hyeok: Journalist asks “usually football is a sport where you lift trophies, it’s rare to receive medals. How does it feel receiving a medal?” Yang Min Hyeok replies: “I don’t think medals or trophies mattered; I felt like we played just looking at one thing, which is the reward of military exemption.”

Captain Lee Gi Hyeok: when asked about his thoughts on the match he literally just said “I’m not going to the military!”

Park Seung Soo: posts a photo on Instagram of him in a military uniform (the second I saw this post after we won gold, I knew there would be issues)

It seems several players, maybe in the excitement of the moment, forgot that even having the option of military exemption is a privilege, something they should be grateful for. An issue THIS sensitive in Korea (Park Ju Young got a lot of shit for it, Suk Hyun Jun essentially got banished from the country for delaying it for his Europe career) needs to be treated very delicately. Instead, they openly told the media they don’t care about the medal they were just laser focused on the exemption. Which is fair enough, surely that IS a big motivator for everyone involved, but making that statement publicly is of course problematic.

Predictably, this story didn’t stay contained within domestic sports circles. Major international outlets like the BBC and The Guardian picked up the story, casting an unflattering spotlight on how Korean players openly framed the tournament as a transactional escape from national service rather than a point of national pride. For an association constantly trying to project global professionalism, the global embarrassment only compounded the internal mess.

The most famous case of military exemption was Son Heung Min – in conversation for the Asian Greatest of All Time and by a LARGE margin the most famous and well liked footballer – who very nearly had to lose 2 years in his prime to military service. The 2018 Asian Games was his absolute last chance, which he ended up winning. Since it was his last chance, he must have been desperate, and he was asked many questions about military service, but Son, ever so good at diplomatic media appearances, has always maintained:

“Military service is not a topic you can talk about carelessly. The military benefit is a secondary issue. As a citizen of the Republic of Korea, achieving good results in international competitions comes first, I thought. And even while playing the tournament, I focused on how to win when the Asian Games are held in a country other than Korea, how to bring back the gold medal. The military benefit was secondary.”

Lee Kang In, next in line for the Asian GOAT contender, was also answering these questions like a normal person:

“I’m happy we achieved the goal of winning. Especially since it was my first victory in a match representing the Republic of Korea, it was a special and good experience. The military benefit wasn’t a huge part for me. It is naturally true that my player career has become more comfortable going forward, but since it’s something any Korean man has to do, I don’t have any special feelings of happiness or anything because of this.”

Now SHM and LKI would OF COURSE have been so happy about military exemption internally. Losing one and a half to two seasons playing in the K League would have hurt them more than anyone else. Of course, the military benefit is great and would be a motivation for Son and Lee but revealing that outwardly? Not good. Because after all, the justification for receiving this military exemption is national prestige, because you brought glory to the country, just as going to the military is a sacrifice for the country.

Of course, not everyone spoke in a way that provoked national outrage.

Eom Ji Sung: “Rather than thinking about the military issue, everyone gathered with the goal of a gold medal, so I’m happy we achieved the result [of a gold medal].”

Lee Young Jun (who already served in the military, like GK Kim Joon Hong and MF Lee Seung Won):

After the game, they played “A letter from a private” by Kim Gwang Seok. I hoped that the players who were exempt from military service could understand that feeling. My year and six months of military service was really significant to me. I hope that everyone who received this benefit does well and I wonder how my friends [from Sangmu the army athletics team] are doing.

Journalist: “Do you think receiving a military exemption will be more of an opportunity for young players?” Lee Young Jun replies:

I think it will naturally be a great opportunity, and I know how precious and big a time that 1 year and 6 months—the time you have to go to the military—is. I hope the players know that how precious this time is and do well, and be thankful for the opportunity.

A few games ago, Lee Young Jun was asked “why are you trying so hard when you already got military exemption?” to which he replied “Who wouldn’t try their hardest when wearing the badge of their country?”

Lee Young Jun, the 193 cm CF playing for Grasshopper Zurich in Switzerland, is emerging as a fan favorite amongst Korea fans right now. Not just for words such as the above, not just for essentially carrying the team to the Gold single-handedly (Lee Min Sung struggles HARD to break down compact defenses, and only Lee Young Jun’s physicality and link-up play gave us the edge and allowed us to beat opposition we would’ve otherwise struggled against), but for being just about the only person who plays with passion on the national team. He will almost certainly be called up to the A team in November.

The Korean national team crisis will be discussed in the subsequent post but it REALLY feels like these days, players are less and less motivated while playing for the national team. In the past we used to fight for every ball, fight every duel, run more than the opposition. Nowadays we are static and no one seems to care. Maybe leadership issues and infighting are partially to blame too (we will discuss that in the subsequent post) but why does it take military exemption being on the line for us to play like we used to? Being part of the national team should be something very honorable. With other countries you see guys shedding tears at their national anthem, or crying when their name is announced for their national team squad. Football, more than any other sport, places paramount prestige on national selections. But it seems our national team players don’t seem to have motivation with the “Taeguk Mark” on their chest. The Korean public is becoming very worried about this as are we. Players bring it up too, with Kim Min Jae exploding in anger after the Venezuela match, asking why no one is running and why we don’t play as a team. But this is to be explored later.

Japanese Shenanigans

Lots of controversy this Asian Games. Just to list a few:

1. Raising the Chinese flag (bronze medal) and the Japanese flag (silver medal) during the football medal ceremony, but not raising ours and the crowd booing our national anthem
2. For previous games, our bus driver kept taking us to baseball stadiums not soccer stadiums for training
3. The day before the match, we wanted to train at Toyota Stadium, the venue of the final on Friday, but found that the ground was in extremely poor condition. When we requested to use a different training ground instead, the organizing committee denied the request, leaving us to walk out onto poorly maintained surfaces in front of a Japanese crowd. That’s right, they forced us to train in front of opposition fans.
4. Organizers played North Korea’s national anthem instead of South Korea’s before a men’s field hockey match
5. At the athletes village welcome event, performers dressed as Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, with Hideyoshi being the 16th century ruler who led Japan’s invasions of Korea (1592–1598). The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee filed a formal complaint. Organizers later re-ignited the controversy by running a photo zone featuring the figure.
6. Morning of the basketball men’s finals against Japan, the training bus assigned didn’t show up, so they were not able to practice (but we still won gold so ha)
7. The organizing committee failed to secure proper training venues and facilities, forcing the Korean baseball team to independently rent a private practice field.
8. During the men’s modern pentathlon awards ceremony, the announcer referred to South Korea as the Republic of China.
9. South Korea flag blocked at the airport. South Korean team had to enter without carrying the flag while every other country had no issues
10. In the mixed team judo semifinals at the 2026 Aichi Nagoya Asian Games, a series of questionable calls derailed South Korea’s gold medal bid. Decisions initially favoring Kazakhstan were repeatedly overturned by Korea’s video review or corrected after referee consultations, fueling ongoing controversy. Commentator Song Dae-nam, watching the match, erupted in frustration: “We are not only fighting Kazakhstan, we are also fighting the referees
11. Men’s 4x100m Relay: The team was initially disqualified in the heats for an alleged baton exchange violation. After an immediate appeal with video evidence from the coaching staff, the ruling was overturned, allowing them to compete in the final.

There are others that I’m surely missing but this HAS to be intentional. Fortunately, we pulled gold in all their most popular sports by beating them in the final (baseball, soccer, basketball) so … karma.