All South Korean men between the ages of 18-28 are required to serve in the nation’s military for at least 18 months. That hard fact has hung over the heads of ARMY practically since the launch of BTS nearly a decade ago, no more so than now when eldest member Jin, 29, faces enlistment by December. While the country’s allows for some elite athletes and classical musicians to avoid the mandatory military stint, there is currently no similar exemption for pop artists.
But according to the Yonhap News Agency, South Korea’s Culture, Sports and Tourism minster Hwang Hee said during a news conference on Wednesday (May 4) that the rule should change. “It’s time to create a system for incorporating popular culture-art figures as art personnel,” Hee reportedly said. “The system has been operated meaningfully to give those who have enhanced the national status based on their excellent skills more chances to contribute to the country, and there is no reason the popular art-culture field should be excluded from this.”