[Designing a Legal Victory] Grounds, Uniforms, and Physiques Under the Microscope... Sejong Saves Soccer Player on the Brink

Emphasized lack of intent: "Only 1 hour and 30 minutes out of 544 hours"

"To rebut the prosecution's argument that the player deliberately inflated his records, we personally analyzed everything from the uniforms and physiques of the middle and high school youth teams to their training grounds. We persuasively showed the court that, because both teams were affiliated with the same club, the agent could easily have mistaken one set of photos for the other."

Attorney Choi Cheolmin (31st class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute) of Sejong Law Firm explained this on November 11 in an interview with The Asia Business Daily, describing the key to securing an acquittal for soccer player Kim Jinya in a case involving a violation of the Military Service Act.

Attorney Choi Cheolmin (left) and Attorney Park Pilwoong pose at the headquarters of law firm Sejong in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 11th, during an interview with The Asia Business Daily. Photo by Choi Taewon.

The case began with documents recording volunteer service. Kim was assigned to sports personnel status after winning a gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games. Under this alternative military service program, sports personnel continue their athletic careers instead of serving in the military and must complete 544 hours of volunteer work (public service) over 34 months. Kim volunteered by coaching players on the youth teams of Incheon United's affiliated middle and high schools, while his agent handled the paperwork.

That was where the problem arose. The agent submitted photos of volunteer work at one school as proof of service for both the middle and high schools. Prosecutors also believed the agent had fabricated records by adding service hours to confirmation logs bearing the school official's seal. They indicted the player for violating the Military Service Act, alleging that 1 hour and 30 minutes of volunteer work had been overstated through duplicate submissions.

The circumstances were against Kim. His administrative lawsuit seeking to overturn the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's warning ended in defeat. The provision in question allows for imprisonment but not a fine, making a suspended sentence or harsher punishment likely if he were convicted. Under Korea Football Association regulations, a final sentence of a suspended prison term or harsher punishment would result in the cancellation of his player registration. His career was at stake.

Sejong focused on the different standards applied in administrative and criminal proceedings. It argued that administrative sanctions can be imposed based solely on an incorrect result, without considering intent or negligence, whereas criminal punishment generally requires intent - that is, that the person did it deliberately. Attorney Park Pilwoong (41st class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute) compared this to bidding. A company can be disqualified from a tender for submitting incorrect records without investigating how the mistake happened, but criminal punishment requires determining whether it deliberately tried to deceive. "The fact that our client diligently completed all 544 hours and had no reason to inflate the total by just 1 hour and 30 minutes is directly relevant to whether the client acted intentionally," Park said.

The key was to address the court's question: "Could such a mistake have happened?" Attorney Choi said, "We were dealing with the abstract question of whether there was intent," adding, "We needed concrete evidence, such as photographs, that could show there was no intent."

Attorney Jeong Hangyun (9th bar exam) investigated the training environments of the middle and high school youth teams. Both teams were affiliated with Incheon United and used the same uniforms and grounds, making them difficult to distinguish at a glance. The third-year middle school and first-year high school players also had similar physiques. Sejong emphasized that the agent, who received and organized only the photos, could easily have confused them. The firm also gathered related news photos showing this and submitted them to the court.

The court accepted Sejong's argument. It ruled that criminal punishment generally requires intent and that the fact that Kim had received a warning was not, by itself, sufficient to establish intent.

Park added, "Given the importance and strictness of military service in our society, the need to handle related matters carefully cannot be overstated. Players themselves should also regularly check that their service records are being submitted correctly."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.