The Supreme Court of Korea has ruled that a South Korean man should be sentenced to one year and six months in prison after rejecting the country’s mandatory military service. He claimed that he was a conscientious objector, but the lower court rejected this in part because he liked playing. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

Released in 2017 PUBG It was one of the first and most popular battle royale shooters on the market. It currently holds the record for concurrent players on Steam, exceeding 3 million. (Not even the recent mega hit palworld It may exceed this number.) Other games — e.g. Fortnite And Call of Duty: Battlefield—usurped its status as the best battle royale game, still appears regularly on Steam list of most played games and still has a huge community. This includes a man who wanted to avoid mandatory military service in South Korea.

In November 2018, an unnamed South Korean man was charged with violating the country’s Military Service Act, which forces all able-bodied men in the country to serve in the military for at least 18 months. As reported by Korea Herald (and noticed gaming radar) the man initially told the court he refused to enlist because of his personal beliefs against the war.

In the decision, handed down in 2018 and confirmed by the Supreme Court on February 4, the court said that the defendant “did not make any effort to spread or realize what he said was his ideological belief.” The court also noted the man’s affection. PUBG As further proof that he is not against war and violence.

‘The defendant admitted that he often enjoyed playing the game’battlefields‘It’s about killing characters with guns in virtual reality,’ the court added. Korea Herald. “The video game is different from reality. However, the fact that the defendant, who said that he refused military service with the belief that he was against violence and war, enjoys such games causes him to question whether his conscientious objection is real in the court.”

According to investigators, he refused to join the army due to “pervasive unfair orders” and because of the military’s regular disregard for human rights. The court disagreed, and now the Supreme Court of Korea has upheld the original decision. The defendant will now be sentenced to 18 months in prison; This is the same amount of time he will have to serve in the military.

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