South Korean culture minister calls on politicians to exempt BTS from military service

completemusicupdate.com:

As he prepares to leave office next week, South Korea’s outgoing Culture, Sports And Tourism Minister Hwang Hee has called on the country’s incoming new government to amend the law so to exempt BTS members – and other successful pop stars – from military service.“It’s time to create a system for [treating] popular culture-art figures as art personnel”, he said at a press conference in Seoul yesterday, according to Yonhap.The issue of BTS’s national service has been a hotly debated topic in South Korea for a number of years now.

Under the country’s laws, all able-bodied men must begin serving around two years in the military at some point between the ages of eighteen and 28.

There are formal exemptions for athletes and classical musicians with an international following, but nothing for pop acts.While this has halted, or at least stunted, the careers of many K-pop artists over the years, it has become a major talking point in more recent times due to the continued, massive international success of BTS.The oldest member of the group, Jin, who is 29, has so far avoided conscription thanks to a change in the law that allowed some pop artists (there were complaints that the amendment was so specific that it could only apply to members of BTS) to defer the start of their military service until the age of 30.The problem now is that Jin will turn 30 in December this year and the issue still has not gone away.

Many oppose any new full-on exemptions, and that opposition is seemingly and understandably particularly strong among South Korean men in their 20s who have served their time or are preparing to.There are also worries that, with an ageing population, South Korea can’t afford to start exempting more men from military.