G-Dragon’s Unit Responds To Report Speculating Special Treatment In The Military
On February 26, Dispatch released a report questioning G-Dragon’s current military rank as well as the amount of time he has taken off from his service.
According to Korean army regulations, a soldier is a private for the first three months, a private first class for the next seven months, and then a corporal for the following seven months.
As G-Dragon began with his official assignment on April 5, 2018 after completing training, his colleagues have been promoted to be corporals. However, G-Dragon was reported to still be of private first class rank. A source of the army commented that it is likely due to him not receiving a passing grade in the promotion evaluation.
Dispatch reported that as of February 26, he has been in service for 364 days since his enlistment on February 27, 2018, and 100 of those days were spent outside of the unit, which Dispatch speculates as a reason for him not being promoted.
He took at least 50 of those days off with vacation days and sick leaves. 28 vacation days are allowed during the entire service period, and according to the report, he used most of them in less than a year as well as all of the sick leaves allowed for the year. In addition, he reportedly spent 40 additional days in the military hospital, which count as days that he spent in the unit.
G-Dragon took a vacation of 11 days from February 1 through 11. When asked how he took so many days off when he has used up nearly all of his vacation days, a source from the White Skull Division responded, “The commander granted special leaves to all soldiers who were transferred in around the same time.” In response to the question of the special leave’s purpose, the source commented, “It was given according to regulations.”
The source did not comment on whether G-Dragon used sick days to extend his special leave and instead remarked, “When a new year starts, 30 days of sick leave are additionally granted.”
Regarding a rumor that he has been discharged from the military due to illness, the division responded they cannot confirm the validity of this information.
A source of G-Dragon’s division commented, “It is true that he is currently a private first class. However, it is difficult to comment regarding his personal matters.” About his vacation days, this source responded, “Kwon Ji Yong’s vacations were taken in accordance with his personal situations and within military regulations. There are no problems.” Another source commented, “G-Dragon used a total of 76 vacation days, and 47 were sick days. Aside from his sick leaves, the other vacation days are not much different from what typical soldiers use. There are no problems.”
One source of the military, however, commented, “It is special treatment that occurred under the label of ‘the commander’s discretion,'” and added, “Last year, the incident of him using the 1-person hospital room was also resolved as just being the commander’s discretion.”
YG Entertainment has yet to respond to the reports.
