Army trainee is apprehended after romantic escape to Busan with girlfriend
Published: 14 Aug. 2025, 19:56
![Intense waves brought by Typhoon Haishen batter Busan's Gwangalli Beach in 2020. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/08/14/506fadaf-e136-44bc-adc4-de7ad6a41702.jpg)
Intense waves brought by Typhoon Haishen batter Busan's Gwangalli Beach in 2020. [YONHAP]
A first-week Army trainee was apprehended after he ran away to "see the ocean" in Busan with his girlfriend.
Busan’s Suyeong Police Precinct said on Thursday that it had urgently detained a 20-year-old trainee from the Army’s Korea Army Training Center in Nonsan, South Chungcheong, on charges of desertion and handed him over to the Army’s investigation command.
The trainee is accused of leaving the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital without permission on Wednesday. He had entered the Nonsan training center on Aug. 7 and was hospitalized there after falling ill, before slipping out of the hospital without notice.
Police, acting on a request from the military for investigative assistance, tracked his movements and arrested him at around 1:15 a.m. Thursday on Gwangalli Beach in Busan. He had traveled there with his girlfriend and was found on the sand.
Authorities confirmed that the trainee did not commit any other crimes during his time away.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY CHO MUN-GYU [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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