Korea Minister of Culture listens to public opinion on BTS’ military service exemption

According to the Korean Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, public opinion is an important variable for the proposal to exempt BTS from their mandatory military service. This is how official Park Bo Kyun responded at a press conference held on Monday, July 4th (KST) in Sejong, the administrative capital of the aforementioned country.

As South Korean citizens the members of BTS should enlist in the military before they turn 28 years old. However, the K-pop group got a first benefit from deferring their registration until 30 with the so-called “BTS Law“. Said modification was approved in merit of international awards and for spreading Hallyu in the world.

After that, an initiative was debated to exempt Bangtan from the (approximate) 18 months of service; and instead of them give them the benefit of being cultural agents. After the change of presidential authorities, there was no further progress on this issue. In a press session, Minister Park Bo Kyun communicated the position on the proposal.

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“First, I believe that military service is a sacred duty. Second, BTS has promoted Korean culture in the world and raised the nation’s prestige“, the official said.

“A third variable is that there is a problem of equality between the field of classical arts and popular art“.

Currently, military service exemption cases only cover classical music artists and Olympic or Asian Games medalists. The minister argued that they are considering public opinion on the special case of BTS.

“Public opinion is important. We are not the ones who take the initiative, instead, we are listening to opinions and transferring it to the National Assembly”, he explained.