This is my first time writing on a PANN.
I was just looking through the news yesterday, and saw an article that BTS is having a difficult time exempting from military service, and Nate seems to be leading source for opinions on idols. I'm writing it down to express my old opinion because I have a lot of time during my annual leave.
Starting from the conclusion, I would like BTS to be exempted. I'm saying this without any bias as a fan, rather it is far more beneficial to the national interest and ordinary people to have BTS as a whole exempted rather than just having a few soldiers here and there.
I'm writing this in case you may ask, I'm a former exchange operator of the Node(?) Battalion, and I've been dealing with equipment such as TTC-95k, TDU, and PCU. I trained to build a spider network while doing a network city with a Linux-based computer called NC. If I say this much, Node soldiers will know.
Let's look at my arguments one by one.
1. The criteria for exemption from the Special Military Service Act are as follows. - Olympic medals - 2nd place in international art contests - 1st place in domestic art contests - Those who have received intangible cultural assets for more than 5 years
These standards are in accordance with the Special Military Service Act enacted in 1973. There have been small changes in the meantime, but the law itself was enacted back in the days in 1973, which cannot keep up with the same notion of fairness of the modern times. This period wasn't even a period of pop-centered pop culture. So it is necessary to patch this standard to today's 2021 standards.
I'm sorry to all the artists for saying this, but frankly, the 1st and 2nd place winner at the 'Seoul International Dance Competition' will also be exempted from military service. I'm sorry again, but in terms of promoting national prestige, what makes it that BTS is considered inferior to them?
In addition, for the purpose of exempting from military service, there are also mass-produced international competitions, where hundreds of people can enjoy the benefits of being exempted. I think this standard is strange. I am of the view that these standards should be revised in an equitable way for today. On the other hand, I also believe it would be fair to even abolish the special treatment given to those artists and competitors if it's done altogether. That goes for number two.
2. Standards for Social Consensus on Exceptions for Military Service
First of all, granting special military service is in itself a reward for enhancing national prestige, but the actual purpose is to protect talented people who are capable of raising national prestige from being deprived from foreign countries' 'audience' due to military service. The argument of getting rid of them and throwing these people all into the military goes against this notion because it eventually causes problems that accelerate the naturalization of talented people in each respective field to other countries.
If so, what are the social standards for special military service? This is not enacted by law, but an agreement among members of society. For example, enjoying the privilege of winning an unheard-of contest mentioned above is, 'But this is a bit iffy?' you may ask. However, there is not much debate when it comes to the Olympic medals or the military special treatment that Son Heungmin received, right? That's the key difference.
The promotion of national prestige -> social consensus on military special treatment, these are examples that show that these concepts are still valid today. If that is the case, then the standards for the promotion of national prestige should be updated according to today's standards. From this point of view, is there anyone who can achieve the value of promoting national prestige more than BTS? Rather than sending BTS members to the military, continuing to exert influence and promoting around the world is beneficial to the national interest, national brand image, and publicity for Korea.
3. But there are no special standards for idols and even pop culture people!
I see this argument a lot in the news comments, and I can see that people claim that there aren't even any real standards and to not give special treatment as a whole.
Everyone... Standards are a concept created by humans. It's not like the laws of physics found anywhere in the natural sciences. Therefore, the standard is not an absolute immutable value, and it can change at any time.
For the past few decades, we have been taking the position that it is appropriate to give military privileges for 'promoting national prestige,' with only few people denying the concept of having military privilege itself. But now we're saying traditional culture and art is ok, but not idols? Why...? There might be people who find it ambiguous to set standards for the promotion of national prestige on pop culture like idols. But this is a matter to be decided through discussion, but I believe we would me making a mistake to not discuss this topic at all just because it's a difficult topic. So what's the standard right now? ㅋㅋ
4. So just how much did BTS promote national prestige?
- Twitter “BTS, the most mentioned account in the world for 4 consecutive years” (edaily.co.kr)
- No. 1 BTS YouTube views as of 2020 (And isn’t BLACKPINK also a Korean idol group too? Huh…)
- Big Hit's market cap exceeds the combined market cap of the three major agencies based on the IPO price | hankyung.com
-> It seems to be about 3x higher right now.
- 'News 9' BTS J-Hope "5.18 song lyrics? A history that should not be forgotten" - Chosun Ilbo (chosun.com)
A member named JHope only mentioned 5.18, which has the effect of making BTS fans abroad learn about Korea's history. It was more effective than any other video from the real government...There were even content about 5.18 that started appearing on Youtube for foreigners to learn about it.
And you think this effect is only limited to 5.18?
- Paul McCartney mentions BTS again "BTS is going through what the Beatles went through" (tvdaily.co.kr)
A huge compliment from the legendary member of the Beatles compared to BTS and themselves...
- Being on Billboard #1 alone, they received 1.7 trillion? In advertisement. How much is the ransom of 'BTS Power'? | JoongAng Ilbo (joongang.co.kr)
- K-pop band BTS worth billions to South Korea's economy (cnbc.com)
- US CNN "BTS will contribute 56 trillion won to the economy by 2023" | SBS News
In the past, when Korean singers performed abroad, the audience was mostly filled by local Koreans living there, right? But BTS has an organic popularity with even foreigners.
This is the survey data from the Korea Tourism Survey targeting foreigners.
A whopping 86.8% of the respondents said that K-pop culture had an impact on Korean tourism.
This is a list of factors that affect the image of a country viewed by foreigners.
