In the case of violating the Military Service Act "Unfair Order to Return Passport" Park Hyo-joon lost the first trial, red light for U.S. challenge?
Sep 26, 2024
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On the 26th, the 12th Division of Administration of the Seoul Administrative Court (Judge Kang Jae-won) ruled against the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by Park Hyo-joon to cancel the order to return the passport.
Park Hyo-joon, who signed with the New York Yankees in 2014 and moved to the U.S. the following year, made his big league debut in 2021, and has since played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and is currently playing for the Oakland Minor Team. Until now, Article 70 (1) of the Military Service Act has been classified as "a person who has not been called up as a military service preparatory, supplementary, or alternative service over the age of 25" and has been allowed to travel abroad until March last year and has been playing in the United States.
However, Park Hyo-joon has not served in the military since March last year, when the overseas travel permit period ended, and the Seoul Regional Military Manpower Administration accused him of violating the Military Service Act. On April 25 of that year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also served Park Hyo-joon with a notice of order to return his passport. Park Hyo-joon filed a lawsuit in May last year, saying, `The order to return the passport has not been notified in advance, we are trying to resolve the violation, and we will have to actually give up our dream of entering the Major League.'
In response, the court said in a ruling that `the passport law did not stipulate that the return order must be notified in advance, and there are considerable reasons to suspect that the passport return order avoids military service obligations, so the case is intended to limit the use of passports by plaintiffs accused of violating the Military Service Act"It cannot be concluded that the public interest, such as fairness and equity of military duty, is less than the disadvantage that the plaintiff will suffer"I explained the reason for the loss. In addition, there is some self-inflicted part of the plaintiff that has reached the disposition of this case, and the plaintiff has continued to stay in the United States without returning to Korea until now, so it is difficult to accept the cancellation of the disposition of this case as it is not much different from claiming to tolerate the current illegal state until he acquires permanent residence" he said.
If Park Hyo-joon accepts the ruling of the first trial, he will return to Korea and begin fulfilling his military service through the procedure of returning his passport. It is not known whether Park Hyo-joon will appeal.
ppark@sportschosun.com
