Military tightens rules for celebrity soldiers
By Jun Ji-hye
Singer Rain
The defense ministry on Thursday said that it has set up new rules limiting leave entitlement for entertainers serving mandatory military service after growing criticism from the public that ordinary conscripts have far less leave entitlement.
“Considering growing criticism on the alleged preferential treatment for the entertainment soldiers, we agreed to make some rules regarding their leave,” a ministry official told The Korea Times over the phone asking for anonymity.
“From now on, when they leave the base for official duties such as choreography, rehearsals or to record songs, they must be accompanied by a military official. In such cases, they cannot stay off base overnight and must obey a 10 p.m. curfew,” he said.
The move came after top star Rain, currently halfway through his mandatory two-year military service, became embroiled in controversy early this month after reports in the media that he used time allocated for official duties away from the military base he was stationed at to pursue a relationship with top actress Kim Tae-hee, meeting with her every weekend in December.
After the love story surfaced, many critics complained that Rain was able to enjoy his private life while ordinary soldiers remained confined to their barracks.
Some netizens even called for an end to the preferential treatment of entertainers serving in the military.
The ministry official admitted it was true that entertainers tend to have more vacation time and time off base than ordinary soldiers. But, he added this is because they earn their extended leave entitlement.
“As entertainment soldiers perform at many outdoor events including music concerts, vacation time has been given in appreciation of this,” he said.
The official also said that under the new rules, if vacation time is due, the ministry will now apply the same rules on entertainers as it does to ordinary soldiers.
“On average, entertainers have received twice as many vacations as ordinary soldiers. We will tighten control of this so that such a thing never happens again,” he said. According to the material submitted last October by the ministry to Rep. Jin Sung-joon of the Democratic United Party, the average number of holidays that entertainers took amounted to 75 days, while those for ordinary soldiers were 43 days.
Rain, the 31-year-old singer, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, faces confinement as a disciplinary action for pursuing private matters on military time. He will be discharged in July.