Ken Rhee

This biographical article is written like a résumé. Please help improve it by revising it to be neutral and encyclopedic. (December 2023)

Ken Rhee (born March 22, 1984) is a South Korean former soldier, businessman, and broadcaster, best known for participating in the Russia-Ukraine War as a volunteer member of the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, and the resulting controversy in South Korea, where upon his return he was accused of violating the law.

Born in South Korea in 1984, he immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 3, and grew up in New York City and LA. He dreamed of becoming a Navy SEAL officer in the U.S. military, but he did not enter the Naval Academy because he did not have citizenship,^[1] and after going to Virginia Military Institute, he decided to become a Navy officer in the Republic of Korea.

After graduating from Virginia Military Institute, he gave up his permanent residency and returned to Korea in 2007, commissioned as the 102nd officer of the Naval Academy Candidate(OCS), and served in DDH-976 and the Navy's Special Warfare Corps(UDT/SAL).^[2] During his active career, he completed various special forces training courses of the Korean and U.S. military with excellent performance, and he was a soldier with various practical experience by dispatching a number of overseas troops and participating in military operations.

After being discharged from the military as a lieutenant in 2014, he served in the PMC, served as an anti-terrorism and tactical shooting instructor in a number of military and police agencies, and worked in security and security-related positions at the US State Department and the UN.

He served as executive director of MUSAT, a security and tactical consulting company, and became popular in 2020 by appearing in the YouTube web content "가짜사나이". Since then, he has left MUSAT and established ROKSEAL, a military security consulting company, and has been actively operating the YouTube channel "ROKSEAL" of the same name.

In March 2022, he participated in the Russia-Ukraine War as a member of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine (ILDU), a Ukrainian volunteer army, and returned to Korea in May 2022 after being injured while performing a combat mission.^[3]

Ukraine is a travel ban country that has been issued with a level 4 warning under the travel warning system since February 13, 2022 due to the war, so entering Ukraine without government permission can be punished according to the passport law. According to the Ukrainian Embassy in Korea, dozens of Koreans also expressed their intention to support volunteer troops at the embassy, and warned them not to enter Ukraine without permission. Ken Rhee said he would be punished for this.^{[9][full citation needed]}

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Ken Rhee, who entered the country without permission from March 6, participated in Ukraine, and said on March 17 that it was true that nine Korean nationals, including Ken Rhee, entered the country without permission, and that the remaining eight people would have participated in the war as volunteer soldiers, and explained that they were trying to confirm their whereabouts. Ken Rhee's Instagram account of him leaving for Ukraine to participate in the volunteer army was evidence, and he was accused by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of violating the passport law.^[10]

Ken Rhee left Warsaw Chopin Airport (Polish: Lotnisco Chopina w Warszawie) and returned home at 07:30 on May 27, 2022, through Incheon International Airport. Ken Rhee, who participated in the war as a foreigner for about 80 days, was accused of violating the passport law, was investigated by the police on June 10 after being quarantined to find out more about the charges, and most of the charges he committed were admitted.^[11][12] The international criminal investigation unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Narcotics Crime Investigation Unit sent Ken Rhee to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office without detention on June 14. The police admitted to violating the passport law and did not investigate the "pre-crime" or "crime of using explosives," which are applied when personally participating in other countries' combat actions, although they are likely to violate the passport law.^[13]

Ken Rhee said that both knee cruciate ligaments were torn and he wanted to return to Ukraine after treatment. Ken Rhee said that while preparing to be punished for violating the law, he bravely fought on the battlefield by protecting people in the war as a volunteer army. During the war, not all volunteers receive citizenship, but the number of people who can receive citizenship is limited, and one of them is Ken Rhee himself. Nevertheless, Ken Rhee himself, who rejected his citizenship, is a Korean, so he said he would be punished according to the Korean court's ruling.^[14][15] Ken Rhee said he reported and recorded war crimes, including the slaughter of civilians by Russian troops in Irpin while participating in the war in Kyiv and the South, and said that it would be a criminal act if he did not help Ukraine under such circumstances. Regarding his participation in the war in Ukraine, he said that it was his duty and "the fight between good and evil" to help Ukraine with a war against Russia, a powerful country that is different in character from other countries, which is a weak country. He said that the violation of the passport law was a traffic law,^[16] and that he made the right decision based on his belief, even though he knew he could be punished for illegal activities, and that he had no regrets at all.^[17][18][19]

• United States Navy SEALs
• Republic of Korea Navy Special Warfare Flotilla
• Koreans in Ukraine