Super Junior’s Leeteuk Confesses He Regretted Going into Active Military Duty

On the latest episode of MBC’s “Radio Star,” Super Junior members Leeteuk, Kangin, Siwon, and Eunhyuk made guest appearances for the “Super Junior—Around Thirties” special.

During the talk, the MCs brought up the topic of Leeteuk’s military enlistment. MC Kim Gu Ra asked, “You were supposed to go into duty under a reservist status, yet you ended up going into active service anyway. Was there a pressure from your surroundings to do so?” To this Leeteuk responded, “Yes there was a little bit of that, but as the leader of Super Junior I thought it would be best to go into active duty.”

The MCs later asked whether he regretted his decision, and Leeteuk honestly responded yes and explained, “There were so many bad things occurring one after the other, and I eventually began to wonder why this ordeal was happening to me. There was even a unit change in the middle of my service. It occurred while I was at the lance corporal status.”

Kyuhyun later asked Leeteuk. “You still use the da-na-kka speech when you speak. Why do you do that?” Leeteuk responded, “I think it makes me feel manlier and more polite so I think I’ll try to keep doing so if I can.”

The “da-na-kka” speech is a required form of speech within the military—when speaking, there must be a “da” after a statement, “na” after a command or a question to a lower ranking soldier, or a “kka” after a question to a higher ranking soldier. It adds formality in speech and keeps the hierarchy within the military system.

Did anyone catch this episode? What do you guys think of Leeteuk’s decision?