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SEOUL, South Korea – Kim Seok-jin, the oldest member of global K-pop phenomenon BTS, turns 28 on Friday. On Tuesday, the South Korean Parliament gave him a birthday present.
Mr. Kim’s birthday could have marked the end of his current career as a K-pop star. Until now, all able-bodied South Korean men were required to enlist in the military for about 20 months once they were 28, if not earlier.
South Korea’s National Assembly, in love with BTS’s worldwide success, came to Mr. Kim’s rescue by passing a revised military service law. The revised law allows big K-pop stars like Mr. Kim to postpone military service until the age of 30. Mr. Kim, who bears his stage name Jin, will now be able to perform for two years at the height of his career.
The news instantly electrified BTS fans, who call themselves the Army.
“What a day to be alive”, a follower wrote on Twitter.
Under the revised law, K-pop artists who have received government medals for helping to spread or elevate the country’s cultural influence around the world can request postponement of their military service. All seven members of BTS meet this requirement. They received the medal in 2018.
The announcement of the so-called BTS Law is a victory long sought after by fans of male K-pop stars. In South Korea’s conscription system, military duty was touted as a sacred rite of passage for all young men. The government has allowed some exceptions, but its criteria have come under scrutiny in recent years.
For decades, top athletes, such as Olympians and Asian Games medalists, have been exempted from military service on the grounds that they enhance national prestige. Project exemptions are also granted to classical and folk musicians who win certain awards. K-pop fans have argued that it is unfair that world-class K-pop stars are denied this privilege, even though K-pop has become a global phenomenon.
When members of well-known boy groups show up for a training camp, crowds of female fans from all over Asia often gather to say goodbye to them.
Lawmakers introduced a bill to revise the military service law in September, after BTS became the first-ever South Korean group to top the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with the song ” Dynamite”.
“It is a sacred duty to defend our country, but that does not mean that everyone should carry a gun,” Noh Woong-rae, a top lawmaker in the ruling Democratic Party, said in an October statement supporting special treatment for BTS.
In South Korea, more than 200,000 young men each year have to interrupt their studies or their careers to join the army. Conscription is seen as crucial to the country’s defense against North Korea, and South Korea cannot afford too many exemptions.
After decades of low birth rates, the country will soon run out of enough young men to keep its conscripted army at 620,000, defense officials say.
In October, the Military Workforce Administration, which oversees the project, said that while it wouldn’t exempt top K-pop stars from military service, it would at least let them postpone it.
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