The prospect of Tottenham Hotspur star Heung-Min Son having to do two years of military service has always concerned the club's fans and mention of it during the World Cup has resurrected that fear.

Son was involved as South Korea lost 1-0 to Sweden in their opening group stage game last Monday and the ITV commentators mentioned the attacker's required two-year military service.

Then the 2-1 defeat to Mexico left the Spurs star in floods of tears with Son's World Cup dream is all but over and that affects what options he now has regarding his military service.

There have been plenty of mixed messages put out about Son and the prospect of him doing that military service back in his native South Korea.

The player himself is reluctant to ever discuss due to any problems that would cause back home due to a massive star looking as if he was trying to skip his national duty. Even requesting delays or finding loopholes is frowned upon as former Arsenal player Park Chu-Young found.

There have been various ages given for when the 25-year-old would have to complete that service. South Korean law says it must be done by 28. Delays have been allowed in the past in certain special cases although as previously stated are not well received by the South Korean public.

South Korean laws indicate that sportsmen who win medals in the Olympic Games or gold medals at the Asian Games are to be handed exemptions from military service, but they still have to do four weeks of basic training.

Heung-Min Son

However, the South Korean team that reached the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup was given a special pardon from the government from military service for their efforts.

So if Son and his team-mates had pulled off a similar, albeit unlikely, achievement on foreign soil then that might have feasibly happened again.

Now that chance appears to be gone, Son's big chance will come at the Asian Games in Indonesia in August where they will need to take home the gold medal.

It's been reported by Goal that Son has reached an agreement with Spurs to play for South Korea in the Asian Games in August.

Tottenham are looking to hand Son a new contract this summer but the prospect of those two years of military service, will of course play its part.

It is new territory for the club as their previous South Korean player, left-back Lee Young-Pyo, was a member of that 2002 World Cup team that earned its special exemption.


Son turns 26 next month so he would have to begin those two years before he turns 28. South Korean players often play for military teams during their service so any new contract would surely need to include some kind of break clause.

There is always the possibility that Tottenham could delay contract talks until after those Asian Games in August so they have a clear picture of the years ahead.

In the mean time Spurs fans will be hoping for a gold medal for the popular South Korean star.


Available to download from the App Store and Google Play.