South Korean National Assembly passes bill on allowing celebrities to defer military service

BTS perform on THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN

Credit: CBS Photo Archive /CBS

South Korea’s parliament has passed a new law to allow globally renowned pop stars to postpone their mandatory military service and avoid disrupting their careers at the height of their game. 

The bill passed by the National Assembly on Tuesday offers an exceptional temporary reprieve to celebrity boy bands like the seven-member BTS who sell out stadiums worldwide to perform for their many millions of fans and who have been widely praised for promoting South Korea’s reputation and soft power. 

The revision to the Military Service Act was proposed in September after BTS became the first-ever South Korean pop artists to top the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with their song “Dynamite.”

This week their hit "Life Goes On" came in at No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Exclusive US charts.

BTS has boosted exports of Korean products and its members spoke at the 75th United Nations General Assembly in September this year to offer people a message of hope to help them through the pandemic.

The group also has a dedicated league of some 40 million online fans known as the ARMY, who have organised themselves to rally behind charitable fundraising and political causes including Black Lives Matter and the Thai pro-democracy protests. 

Tottenham Hotspur's South Korean striker Son Heung-min in military uniform posing during his basic military training in Jeju island

Credit: Handout/AFP

Fans will now no longer face the imminent upset of losing BTS’ eldest member Jin, 28, who would have been enlisted by the end of the year under the previous rules. 

The Military Service Act requires every young man aged 18 to 28 perform national service for close to two years. South Korea is technically still at war with the North although an armistice was agreed after the 1950-53 Korean War. 

Under the earlier regulation, which was drafted almost 50 years ago, military service exemptions or deferrals were only given to international award-winning athletes and classical musicians, and politicians have recently argued for an update. 

When the latest change is signed off by a presidential decree, acclaimed pop stars may put off their military service until the age of 30 if the culture minister rules that they are making a significant contribution to South Korea’s global stature, reported the Yonhap newswire. 

BTS itself has not objected to enlisting. 

"I believe that military service is a duty. When I am called, I am ready to serve anytime," Jin said in a press conference in February.