BTS and South Korea's military service: What it means

The debate around BTS members’ military enlistment has dominated news cycles for quite some time. On October 17, their agency Big Hit confirmed that the seven members will be fulfilling their mandatory military service. The news of BTS’s upcoming enlistment was announced with a statement via Weverse and its official social platforms, which read that the band members were ready and honoured to serve their country.

The announcement comes just months after BTS members announced they would be taking a break to pursue individual projects.

Conscription law explained
In South Korea, all ‘able-bodied men’ from age 18 to 35 undergo 18-21 months of compulsory military service, and they are forced to suspend their education or professional careers.
However, there are special exemptions for athletes, classical and traditional musicians and dancers who have enhanced the country’s prestige by winning top prizes in specific competitions.

Those who have availed exemptions in non-designated categories and competitions have faced a lot of criticism. Evading military service or using exemptions, particularly by the wealthy and privileged, are not received well in the country.

People who are excluded from the draft are let go from the military after three weeks of basic training. It is also vital for them to perform 544 hours of volunteer work. They continue serving in their professional fields for 34 months.

In 2020, BTS had won a deferral when South Korea's parliament passed a bill allowing the K-pop stars to delay their duties until the age of 30.

Background
South Korea’s Democratic Party of Korea representative Kim Young-bae proposed a bill in September that allows celebrities who have received merits from government to serve an alternative form of military service. For example, BTS was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit by former president Moon Jae-In in 2018.

Besides K-pop, President Yoon Suk-yeol’s government is also contemplating exclusion for a few engineers and researchers in the computer chip and other tech fields, as per Reuters report.
However, according to South Korean newspaper JoongAng Daily, at the country’s National Assembly, Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup has said that it would be ‘difficult’ to extend this alternative (military service) programme to BTS due to aspects of fairness on fulfilling mandatory military service’.

What happens at Korean Military Service?

According to officials at the Military Manpower Administration, BTS members will receive five weeks of combat training before being assigned to specific units and duties. The administration stressed that the singers would go under the same process like other South Korean men.

BTS military service to impact on economy

BTS was reportedly fetching over USD 3.6 billion to the South Korean economy every year and earning USD 1.1 billion in consumer goods exports in a single year.

The Hyundai Research Institute had estimated the group earnings in 2018, according to Fortune.
In 2021, NPR’s Stacey Vanek Smith, said that BTS’s popularity was fuelling tourism to Korea, study of the Korean language, interest in Korean movies, television, fashion and food.

According to Smith, BTS’s total contribution to country’s economy is an estimated USD 5 billion per year or ‘around half a percent of the country’s entire economy.’

According to Fortune, BTS, which made its debut in 2013, would have contributed USD 29.4 billion to South Korea’s economy from 2014 to 2023.

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