Son Heung-Min Starts South Korea Military Service

LONDON (AP) — Tottenham forward Heung-min Son started a three-week period of military service in his native South Korea on Monday.

The 27-year-old Son reported to a Marine Corps unit on the southern island of Jeju, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, and will be in camp until May 8.

He is fulfilling requirements of the military service exemption he earned by winning the gold medal for South Korea in the soccer tournament at the Asian Games in 2018. Without the exemption, he would have been required by law to serve 21 months.

Son, who recently recovered from a broken arm sustained in a match in February, is doing his service while the Premier League is indefinitely suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Britain is in lockdown until at least the first week of May, and the earliest the league can restart is June.