Draft-dodger falls from building trying to run from investigators

A young man on the run for allegedly dodging his mandatory military service survived a fall from a building while trying to evade prosecutors, officials said Thursday.

The suspect, in his late 20s and wanted for violating the Military Service Act, was visited at his home in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province by officials from the Namyangju Branch of the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors' Office at around 12:40 p.m. on Monday. One investigator knocked on the door while the other was standing by outside the commercial-residential building.

The suspect attempted to escape via the bathroom window of his fifth-floor unit, and fell to the ground in the process. He injured his back in the fall and was taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment, but his injury was not found to be critical.

The prosecution withheld the suspect's personal information and details related to the charges. It said officials are considering an investigation without physical detention, depending on the severity of his injury.

All able-bodied South Korean men are required to serve in the military for varying periods of time, the minimum of which is 18 months for the Army. Article 86 of the Military Service Act states that those who ran away in order to evade military service are to be punished by between one and five years in prison.