SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – For the likes of Tom Kim and Byeong Hun An, this week’s Olympic men’s tournament has the familiar motivations: represent South Korea, compete for sport’s highest achievement, savor the Paris Games experience. But the Games also provide a more subtle motivation for them.

Both players are subject to a two-year mandatory military obligation back home in South Korea – unless they were to win a medal in the Olympics, which begin Thursday at Le Golf National.

“I think the easiest answer for us is we're here to play good this week. We are not focused on [the mandatory military service],” Kim said. “We are here to represent our country and, to be honest, I want me and Ben to be standing in that stadium not for the exemption but for our country. That's the most important part. That's the pride of being a South Korean. We have our services, and it is what it is. We are going to go throughout and we are going to play our best, and I really hope he and I are standing on that podium.”

It is a difficult question for young South Koreans as Sangmoon Bae learned when he appealed to extend his work permit to play golf on the PGA Tour and push back his military requirement in 2015. He was criticized in South Korea for making the request, which was denied, and eventually served two years in the army.

Bae was No. 88 in the world ranking and a two-time Tour winner when he joined the South Korean military. He’s fallen to 552nd in the world since getting out of the army and has played just 20 Tour events the last three years.

A medal for An would add to the family collection. His father, Zhimin Jiao, won bronze for China in men's table tennis doubles in the 1988 Games. His mother, Jae Hyung Ahn, won silver (doubles) and bronze (singles) in table tennis while representing host nation South Korea in '88.