Park Yoo Chun completed the basic training required for his mandatory military duty and received his assignment to work in the public sector.
The Defense Ministry announced on September 22, that Park has been assigned to serve at the Seoul Gangnam District Office as of September 24. According to the Korean media outlet Korea Herald, the singer-actor will not be required to serve as an active duty soldier since he has asthma.
In a recent interview with the Korean media outlet Naver TV, Park said that he would prefer to serve as an active duty soldier.
"I wanted to enlist as a soldier," said Park. "A soldier's service in four months shorter. I passed my physical but I was categorized as a public service worker because of my asthma. I didn't know asthma was such a dangerous condition."
Park enlisted on August 27 for the two-year military duty required of all able-bodied Korean males, ages 18 to 35. He participated in basic training at an army camp in Nonsan, South Chuncheong Province.
Park had a fan meeting shortly before he reported for duty. At the fan meeting he thanked his fans for their support. He wanted to enlist quietly but more than 300 of his fans gathered outside the Nonsan training camp to say goodbye.
The Seoul Gangnam District Office may also become a popular location for Park's fans to wait and hopefully catch a glimpse of him.
Although Park debuted as a singer with the band TVXQ and left that band to form JYJ with Kim Junsu and Kim Jae Joong, he has earned acclaim as an actor. Park appeared in the dramas "Rooftop Prince," "Miss Ripley," "Sungkyunkwan Scandal," "Missing You" and most recently "The Girl Who Sees Smells" with co-star Se Kyung. He appeared in his first film, "Sea Fog," for which he won a Baeksang Arts Award, a Blue Dragon Award, A Daejong Film Festival award and was honored at the Busan International Film Festival. This year he can also be seen in the film "Lucid Dream."
Fellow JYJ member Kim Jae Joong enlisted in March and completed basic training in May. Kim Junsu plans to enlist in 2016. The band members originally planned to enlist at the same time but decided to stagger their enlistment so they could pursue solo activities.
