Will they make a special military exemption for some artists?

On July 25, Assemblywoman Ha Tae Kyung called for changes to the criteria that determine who receives a special exemption from compulsory military service, affirming the need for broader and more modern consideration of contributions to the arts.

In response the Bareunmirae Party politician spoke at a general meeting of the National Assembly Defense Committee saying: "There are requests for BTS to be exempted from compulsory military service, so I examined the list of international competitions that determines the exemptions and found that there is a problem in terms of equity. "

"If a person wins the first place in a classical music competition such as the violin or piano, he is granted an exemption from compulsory military service, but if he takes the first place in Billboard with popular music, he is not granted an exemption," he explained.

He continued to give an example with PSY, basing his comment: "PSY set a new world record for YouTube views. He has an incredibly great influence on people from all over the world. However, the things that encourage our entire nation to dream and inspire young people are not on the military exemption list. "

According to Korea's military service law, people with special skills in the arts or athletics train for four weeks in basic military training centers with other recruits, but spend 2 years and 10 months as public service workers in their facilities. respective fields, rather than as active soldiers.