South Korean Defense Minister of disappointing statement on BTS’ military service

The members of BTS do not yet have plans to attend compulsory military service, and this year 2022 the possibility of exempting the group from those obligations or fulfilling an alternative service has been explored. However, on Wednesday, September 21st, Lee Jong-sup, the Defense Minister of South Korea, gave bad news.

The news, reported by Korea JoongAng Daily, was the minister’s response to the alternative military service proposal for BTS, which he said was “difficult” due to “fairness aspects in fulfilling compulsory military service“.

For his part, the representative of the Democratic Party of Korea, Kim Young-bae, would propose a bill to allow an alternative military service to those K-Pop celebrities who have been honored with government merits, as was BTS with the Order to Cultural Merit in 2018, but apparently it will not happen.

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According to the website, Minister Lee Jong-sup’s comments during the National Assembly meeting allegedly came after a recent poll, which asked citizens whether pop culture artists who raised the nation’s reputation should have alternative permission, the programs showed that the majority, 60.9%, believed they should.

In June 2021, BTS members received a special deferral that allowed them to delay their enlistment to the maximum age between 28-30 years based on the Order of Cultural Merit award. The oldest member, Jin, will turn 30 in December.