By Jason Lim
The mandatory military service for all Korean men is the third rail of South Korean politics and society. Everyone hates it and tries to find ways to escape it. At the same time, you will be socially ostracized and professionally penalized if you actually do find some way to escape since it's a mutually binding social compact of misery that everyone has equity in.
If I had to do it, then you better do it. The few acceptable exemptions include medaling in the Olympics or winning the gold medal in the Asian Games. The latter was the way that Son Heung-min, the Tottenham Hotspur star, got out of serving in the military.
It's not hard to understand why young men are so reluctant to serve. Despite the recent reduction in the service duration from 21 to 18 months, it still takes a young man in his 20s out of mainstream society for about two years. For most young men starting out their adult lives in their 20s, the opportunity cost of disappearing from mainstream society for two years is materially and psychologically significant. For those who have achieved early success, however, the cost is far steeper; they are disproportionately penalized by having to quarantine their own careers while they are on top.
Male athletes are the most obvious group, since their performance is largely dependent on their youth. Professional sport is a young man's game. Pop stars are another. This is especially more so if said pop star is BTS, a worldwide phenomenon like no other since Beatlemania. Just 10 years ago, who would have thought that the next Beatles-like global phenomenon would center on a group of young singers from South Korea? But that's the reality that faces Korean legislators today.
If the justification for military exemption is that the medaling athletes brought honor and prestige to the homeland by winning, then BTS did both and far more. According to The Washington Post, BTS added $4.65 billion to the Korean GDP in 2019 alone, on top of whatever honor and prestige they brought back to Korea. As the recent Grammy Awards Ceremony showed, BTS is literally the hottest name in global pop music today and will continue to be a significant buzz generator by which Korea is presented in the best light to the world.
This situation isn't just fun and games; such influence isn't just limited to pop culture. Although it can't be quantified, the amount of soft power BTS generates (together with other groups, such as Black Pink, for that matter, but they are not relevant to this discussion since they are a girl group) will undoubtedly influence the mass perception of one country toward Korea in a positive direction that can potentially enhance Korea's ability to optimize its international relationships and successfully navigate the tight rope of geopolitics of the country's complex neighborhood by enabling it to maximize the constructivist wedge that BTS would have opened up across the globe. You can't buy such influence with money.
Therefore, from a national strategic interest perspective, it's not even a contest. BTS remaining as BTS is far more valuable to Korea than BTS members being "one of them" as faceless soldiers in the Korean military. Sure, they can come back in two years bigger and better, but the world won't stop for them. No one's future is guaranteed.
However, is that fair? While not as big as BTS, there have been other K-pop acts with international followings that had to serve in the military. Psy even had to serve twice! Steve Yoo was banned for life from Korea for (cravenly) escaping his military duties. All the biggest names in K-dramas and movies had to serve, some even volunteering for the marines.
Strictly speaking, I know that the sports carve-out isn't fair either, but an athlete's professional life can be far shorter than a singer's. Also, that exemption has a long history and social consensus behind it. Exemptions for K-pop stars don't. Even if BTS members get get-out-of-jail-free cards today, they will undoubtedly be marked with an invisible scarlet letter for the rest of their lives.
And imagine the pressure for them to continue succeeding at such unsustainable levels because they were granted this favor. Even worse, everyone in the country, especially men who have served, would think that BTS members owe them something for being allowed this special largess. It's almost a deal with the devil.
If I were in Korea's political leadership, I would want to give BTS an exemption for them to continue doing what they are doing. However, if I were BTS, I would refuse. In fact, the whole of BTS should enlist all at the same time instead of straggling in one by one as each member reaches his respective age limit.
Success, especially at this level, is ephemeral and will inevitably fade. By accepting the exemption, BTS members would have to go through the rest of their lives beholden to some type of undefinable and unending honor pledge that would rob them of social and artistic freedom ― not worth it.
The BTS Army can wait. The Korean army can't.
Jason Lim (jasonlim@msn.com) is a Washington, D.C.-based expert on innovation, leadership and organizational culture.
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If I had to do it, then you better do it. The few acceptable exemptions include medaling in the Olympics or winning the gold medal in the Asian Games. The latter was the way that Son Heung-min, the Tottenham Hotspur star, got out of serving in the military.
It's not hard to understand why young men are so reluctant to serve. Despite the recent reduction in the service duration from 21 to 18 months, it still takes a young man in his 20s out of mainstream society for about two years. For most young men starting out their adult lives in their 20s, the opportunity cost of disappearing from mainstream society for two years is materially and psychologically significant. For those who have achieved early success, however, the cost is far steeper; they are disproportionately penalized by having to quarantine their own careers while they are on top.
Male athletes are the most obvious group, since their performance is largely dependent on their youth. Professional sport is a young man's game. Pop stars are another. This is especially more so if said pop star is BTS, a worldwide phenomenon like no other since Beatlemania. Just 10 years ago, who would have thought that the next Beatles-like global phenomenon would center on a group of young singers from South Korea? But that's the reality that faces Korean legislators today.
If the justification for military exemption is that the medaling athletes brought honor and prestige to the homeland by winning, then BTS did both and far more. According to The Washington Post, BTS added $4.65 billion to the Korean GDP in 2019 alone, on top of whatever honor and prestige they brought back to Korea. As the recent Grammy Awards Ceremony showed, BTS is literally the hottest name in global pop music today and will continue to be a significant buzz generator by which Korea is presented in the best light to the world.
This situation isn't just fun and games; such influence isn't just limited to pop culture. Although it can't be quantified, the amount of soft power BTS generates (together with other groups, such as Black Pink, for that matter, but they are not relevant to this discussion since they are a girl group) will undoubtedly influence the mass perception of one country toward Korea in a positive direction that can potentially enhance Korea's ability to optimize its international relationships and successfully navigate the tight rope of geopolitics of the country's complex neighborhood by enabling it to maximize the constructivist wedge that BTS would have opened up across the globe. You can't buy such influence with money.
Therefore, from a national strategic interest perspective, it's not even a contest. BTS remaining as BTS is far more valuable to Korea than BTS members being "one of them" as faceless soldiers in the Korean military. Sure, they can come back in two years bigger and better, but the world won't stop for them. No one's future is guaranteed.
However, is that fair? While not as big as BTS, there have been other K-pop acts with international followings that had to serve in the military. Psy even had to serve twice! Steve Yoo was banned for life from Korea for (cravenly) escaping his military duties. All the biggest names in K-dramas and movies had to serve, some even volunteering for the marines.
Strictly speaking, I know that the sports carve-out isn't fair either, but an athlete's professional life can be far shorter than a singer's. Also, that exemption has a long history and social consensus behind it. Exemptions for K-pop stars don't. Even if BTS members get get-out-of-jail-free cards today, they will undoubtedly be marked with an invisible scarlet letter for the rest of their lives.
And imagine the pressure for them to continue succeeding at such unsustainable levels because they were granted this favor. Even worse, everyone in the country, especially men who have served, would think that BTS members owe them something for being allowed this special largess. It's almost a deal with the devil.
If I were in Korea's political leadership, I would want to give BTS an exemption for them to continue doing what they are doing. However, if I were BTS, I would refuse. In fact, the whole of BTS should enlist all at the same time instead of straggling in one by one as each member reaches his respective age limit.
Success, especially at this level, is ephemeral and will inevitably fade. By accepting the exemption, BTS members would have to go through the rest of their lives beholden to some type of undefinable and unending honor pledge that would rob them of social and artistic freedom ― not worth it.
The BTS Army can wait. The Korean army can't.
Jason Lim (jasonlim@msn.com) is a Washington, D.C.-based expert on innovation, leadership and organizational culture.
