Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
As a part of a national news story regarding a broker and a military service dodging scheme, VIXX member Ravi has reportedly been booked as an individual who utilized the broker’s services.
On January 12, SBS 8 News reported that a joint investigation team led by prosecutors and the military’s affair office had booked VIXX’s Ravi on suspicion of violating military law. The joint investigation team suspects Ravi had falsely claimed he suffered from epilepsy so that he would receive a lower health score and an exemption from active duty.
As you can probably tell and/or assume, this is national news not because a celebrity is involved but because the scheme involved the group helping a bunch of high-profile people.
Earlier it was only strongly hinted and assumed that Ravi was the celebrity who was involved in this scheme, as the initial report gave specific details but no name.
Recently, a group of brokers were arrested on charges of assisting high-profile individuals to evade or diminish the effects of their military service. There were claims that a famous idol rapper was part of the group that the brokers helped receive an exemption from active duty. It was also reported that the rapper in question dropped out of a famous entertainment program in May 2022 and enlisted in the military in October 2022. Ravi left 1 Night 2 Days in May 2022 with the airing of his final episode and enlisted in public service on October 27, 2022.
A former military official Mr. Goo is the person that set up the service, using his knowledge he gained from serving in the military. He set up an office in the Gangnam district of Seoul and taught people how they could best evade or diminish their military service. Mr. Goo is known to have used methods such as partnering with a neurologist to diagnose individuals with epilepsy to help them either become exempted or receive reduced military serivce. Through this service, Mr. Goo and another broker “Kim” received up to ₩100 million KRW (about $80,500 USD) and it is believed that around 70 individuals received assistance from these brokers to avoid their mandatory military service.
GROOVL1N, Ravi’s company that he founded, responded to the initial speculation with a vague statement explaining that they were checking.
We would like to convey our official statement regarding the reports that came out today.
After receiving the report, we are closely examining the truth about the situation.
It is only right to give a statement as quickly as possible, but since the problem is related to military duty, we think it is only appropriate to first find out the details and then give thorough explanations after, so we are currently trying to figure out the details. In addition, if there is a request for an investigation related to this case, [Ravi] will undergo it faithfully at any time.
More exact details will be provided in a separate notice at a later date.
This is disappointing news, as if Ravi indeed was trying to get out of military service like this, it was certainly a shitty (not to mention stupid) thing to attempt.
I know, I know. International netizens always run the same playbook when it comes to idols and military service. Basically that the military is bad and conscription is immoral, so somehow these people trying to evade it are like Muhammad Ali or something. The problem is … well, that’s not what they’re doing, are they? It’s not a principled stance against the morality of the system, it’s simply another case of rich and powerful people trying to get a leg up on the rest of society. Additionally, this type of shit only makes it harder for those who truly are suffering from physical ailments and, more importantly, mental health issues that already aren’t taken seriously enough.
Understandably, the general public aren’t too fond of people who try to do this, and many still get shit for it over a decade later. So I’m hoping that this is some big misunderstanding, but right now it’s looking pretty bad for Ravi.
