WINNER's Song Mino Posts Handwritten Apology After Military Service Sentence
WINNER's Song Mino posted a handwritten apology after a Seoul court sentenced him to a year in prison for military service violations.
WINNER member Song Mino has posted a handwritten apology on social media after a Seoul court sentenced him for breaking military service laws. The letter went up on October 9th, and it’s a rare moment of direct talk in a case that has dragged on for a while.
The ruling came earlier, on the 1st. Judge Sung Joon Gyu of the Seoul Western District Court’s Criminal Division No.10 gave Song one year in prison with a two-year probation. He was tried for 102 days of absence without valid reason while serving as a social service agent at a facility in Mapo-gu, Seoul, from March 2023 to December 2024. The court called it a serious offense and said social service agents are no exception to the duty to serve.
The judge did weigh a few things in his favor: Song admitted guilt, showed remorse, is in ongoing psychiatric treatment, and has no prior criminal record.
The co-defendant, Lee, a service management official, got 10 months in prison suspended for two years. The court found he knew about the absences but processed them as if they were normal reports. Lee denies conspiring with Song to dodge service. On the 6th, his legal representative filed an appeal against the first-trial sentence.
In the letter, Song bowed his head and apologized for worrying people. He wrote that he should have clarified his position sooner, and that he was sorry for disappointing young people who are doing their military duty, along with the fans who stood by him. “I have regretted every day,” he wrote, and he promised to “sincerely fulfill the remaining procedures and obligations.”
My take: the apology is the easy part to read, and the fandom will read it a dozen times. The harder question is the one the court put plainly: military service is a basic duty of citizens, and social service agents are no exception. Watch the appeal next. That’s the step that can still change the outcome for Lee, and it’ll show whether the facility’s paperwork gets looked at as closely as Song’s absences.
