Rapper Nafla to resume military duty after end of draft evasion trial

Rapper Nafla, who received a suspended prison sentence in October for attempting to evade his military duty, will resume his alternative service.

Rapper Nafla [MKIT RAIN]

Rapper Nafla, who received a suspended prison sentence in September for attempting to evade his military duty, will resume his alternative service.

The rapper announced on his YouTube channel on Monday that he would be restarting his service, which had been paused due to his trial on charges of military evasion.

"It’s been a while since I greeted you. Now that I’m starting military service, I’ll complete it faithfully and return,” he said.

“I sincerely thank all my fans who have always supported me and continued to enjoy my music. I’ll bring good music when I’m back."

Nafla was originally assigned to serve as a social service worker at the Seocho District Office in Seoul in February 2021. In 2023, he was indicted on charges of attempting to secure an early discharge by falsifying attendance records and pretending to have worsening symptoms of depression and a panic disorder. Investigations later revealed that while he received psychiatric treatment and prescriptions over the course of a year, he often kept the medications at home instead of taking them.

In the first trial, he was arrested and tried, receiving a one-year prison sentence. Nafla and the prosecution appealed while the rapper was imprisoned in February 2023.

In a second trial in April, the sentence was reduced to one year and two months with a two-year probation, as it was noted that Nafla confessed to most of the crimes and showed remorse.

Both the prosecution and Nafla appealed the second trial's decision, but the Supreme Court upheld the original judgment and dismissed both appeals in September, stating there was no error in the lower court's ruling.

Nafla was bailed out of prison in February, roughly two weeks before his sentence was set to expire.

Rapper Nafla [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Debuting in the hip-hop scene in 2013, Nafla rose to stardom after winning the seventh season of Mnet’s popular hip-hop competition show "Show Me The Money" in 2018 and has since released songs like “Run!” (2021) and “Mobb Tang” (2021).

BY YOON SEUNG-JIN [yoon.seungjin@joongang.co,kr]