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| K-pop group BTS performs during the "BTS Permission to Dance ― Seoul" concert at Jamsil Olympic Stadium on March 10, 2022. Courtesy of Big Hit Music |
By Anna J. Park
The stock price of HYBE ― the management company of K-pop behemoth BTS ― rose by 2.27 percent on Monday, ending a losing streak lasting three consecutive sessions, following the release of a public survey that approved the group members' exemption from mandatory military service.
The stock price went up as high as 164,000 won ($117) at 9:10 a.m. Monday, just 10 minutes after trading began. The price went gradually down from its daily peak, ending at 157,500 won, a 2.27 percent increase from the previous session. Monday's rise is mainly attributed to the public opinion survey result that showed a majority of respondents support alternative military service for the idol group members.
Realmeter surveyed 1,018 adults over the age of 18 from Sept. 14 to 15 and found that 60.9 percent of the respondents favored the revision of the country's Military Service Act that would allow pop artists who are acknowledged to elevate the country's reputation globally to serve their mandatory military duties through alternative services. So far, only a handful of exceptions were allowed to artists, such as classical musicians, or athletes who receive world-class awards.
Out of the 34.3 percent of the respondents who opposed such a revision, more than half supported an option of allowing pop artists to hold their performances for the public good during their military service period.
Although the entertainment company's stock price ended up on Monday, it has been on a rollercoaster ride during the past couple of months, according to media reports and poll survey results on BTS members' military-related issues.
HYBE's stock price soared by 6.76 percent, finishing at 181,500 won, on Aug. 31 due to defense minister Lee Jong-sup's comment during a parliamentary defense committee meeting that the ministry is planning to make a timely decision on the BTS members' military exemption case, according to public poll results.
Yet, the stock price plunged the next trading session on Sept. 1 by 8.26 percent, finishing at 166,500 won, as the defense minister corrected his comment, saying that nothing has been confirmed on how public poll results would be reflected in the government's official decision on the matter.
Furthermore, another public poll conducted by a local daily released on Sept. 6, in which 54.1 percent of the surveyed respondents said BTS members should serve their mandatory military service, prompted the stock price to fall by another 4.18 percent that day.
With the BTS members' military exemption issue falling into uncertainty again, the stock price fell to 154,000 won last Friday, mostly due to net selling by foreign investors.
Jin, the oldest member of BTS, will turn 30 in December of this year. As of now, his entry into the military could be delayed until the end of this year. Separately from a bill to revise the Military Service Act to allow exceptional pop artists to serve alternative duties, another revision bill, aiming to increase the upper limit of the age cap to 33, has also been proposed at the National Assembly.
