BTS Members' Military Service Exemption: Still Possible?
Oct 21, 2019
Noh Hyeong-ouk, minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, said that a comprehensive review is needed to determine whether K-pop juggernauts including BTS should be exempted from their mandatory military service.
During a parliamentary inspection on October 18, the ruling Democratic Party's Kim Byung-wook said, "BTS has ranked first place in Billboard charts, and the group's economic effect reaches 5.6 trillion won (approximately 850 million dollars). This is enough to name the members the youngest laureates of the Order of Cultural Merits. They've greatly contributed to enhancing national prestige." Noh responded that they will work with the concerned parties to comprehensively evaluate whether the realm of "arts" should apply only to the fine arts like the status quo.
His comment comes about a month after officials at the government's military system reform body stated that they had agreed not to extend the existing exemption policy. Currently, military exemptions are exclusively given to Olympic medalists, Asian Games gold medalists, prize winners of certain arts contests including Western classical and Korean traditional music events, and more.
The fairness of the system was questioned last year after BTS' meteoric rise to global stardom. Meanwhile, BTS' oldest member JIN, who must enlist in the military within next year, said in an interview with CBS that he is ready to serve for the country.
