'List of unfairness': Lawmaker cites BTS as example for military service exemption
K-pop act BTS. Courtesy of Big Hit Entertainment
By Dong Sun-hwa
Son Heung-min of English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspurs is working hard not just for the Korean national football team at the Asian Games in Indonesia but also for the privilege of getting an exemption from mandatory military duty if his team performs well.
But should this privilege, now limited to athletes and some in other fields like the arts, be extended to a global K-pop sensation such as BTS?
“I saw the list of about 40 international competitions which men could get military privileges after winning them,” said Rep. Ha Tae-Keung of the opposition Bareunmirae Party during a plenary session of the National Defense Committee on July 25. “It was the list of unfairness."
“The winners of piano and violin contests were on the list, but BTS that topped the Billboard chart is not. The winner of a ballet contest was included, but the winner of a B-boying competition was not.”
Ha said reform is needed to reflect the viewpoints of the young generation.
Military Manpower Administration commissioner Ki Chan-soo said on the same day during the session: “We and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism discuss and single out the fields to be privileged ― we will look through the issue so that it can correspond to reality.”