My huge essay about BTS enlistment drama!

Thank you for your thoughts I enjoyed reading them. I am not a Korean but I have military members in my family. My father was in the Navy at 18. Service should be a choice. Hearing the stories of the what Taemin is going thru makes me fear that the privacy and security of BTS might be very hard to achieve while serving.

I understand that there is a discussion of BTS doing a 4 week basic training. This sounds like an excellent compromise if the harassment of idols can be remedied.

If BTS enlisting would be such a hit to the Korean economy as to make the endeavour not worthwhile, I wonder what the potential GDP cost is of taking two entire years out of the working life of practically your entire male population.

Friends, I think war is really fucking stupid.

Quote from tetetete

about the general military enlistment

i could give out blanket statements about how doing service should not be mandatory but i dont live in a country which shares borders with north korea

so i dont feel that we are in a right position to judge s korea and their decisions

about bts exemption and the new law

personally, i do think bts have so much impact that giving them an exemption would be a nice way to reward them but thats it

i dont particularly care about the criteria they will use and if other artists should be eligible or not

its for their lawmakers to decide

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To think that North Korea is the sole reason for this whole S.K military drama.

tbh people "for" bts going to the military bc of kpop are the weirdest of the bunch. can't completely fault koreans because nationalism has been force fed to them all their lives and the toxic masculinity and military culture is all they know (even though other group's fans have clearly hijacked this discussion over there too). but western kpop stans all up in bts' buisness over fanwars? y'all are really playing with people's lives here.

It’s just weird how armys have been quiet about this but weirdos from akp can’t shut up about it and are criticising BTS about it. Now we are here at this stage of discussion even when nothing is set and decided by the Govt.

Quote from monalisalove

I'm not an army, but I'm also not a BTS anti. I'll give my opinion just bc i want and i like to talk kkkkk

First: I'm all about BTS receiving the exemption based on their national and international success, achievements, records. They brought so much to kpop (yes, the K is here for a reason) and let's not play dumb, the same way i think 1st and 2nd gen paved the way for so many things, i think BTS expanded this "way" and while obviously none will reach their level, it's also thanks to them that some are finding it easier to at least try some things. And I'm in no way trying to discredit kpop groups, but being the first will always be a crazy achievement and a honor. And regardless of "personal feelings" guys, let's just be real, they are the pioneers in so various aspects regarding kpop outside Asia. But I'm not trying to have this convo here kkkk, the point is: their influence IS phenomenal, almost impossible to reach and heeeey, they are proving their legendary status right now guys. This isn't an ancient history. This is happening now and nobody saw anything similar to base on so this means that yes, they are the exception of the exception. They are a super rare and specific case and looking at everything i would say that the exemption can be done bc they are BTS. I'm not up to a whole law tbh, just give BTS the exemption and end this subject...

Second: why are we normalizing the military obligating sick (mental and physically) people to enlist?? Why am I seeing i fans defending such horrible takes? Obviously we can't talk much about their lives, but ffs .. using such instances to use it against BTS is so dumb. I hope S.K. analysis their methods bc this isn't right neither i think this should keep going. This is lazy work to me tbh. Just do a more human and serious background work and enlist who is capable of, not just any men while totally excluding their problems just for the sake of "obligation". This is inhuman and i hope this matter also sparks in S.K. bc no way this is moral neither right.

Third: I know my opinion isn't important here and i don't want to cause more problems, but i also wanted to share it in a serious thread (which surprisingly i didn't find as trolls took this opportunity to just be trolls) bc i think this is an interesting topic.

DISCLAIMER: THE TOPIC HERE ISN'T FANWARS, PAVING THE WAY CONVO OR BASHING KPOP GROUPS, THE TOPIC IS MILITARY EXEMPTION SO EITHER BE INTELLIGENT AND STAY ON TOPIC OR GO PLAY DUMB SOMEWHERE ELSE. BYE!

If i remember some more things I'll write here

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i agree with everything you said, as for the reason why fans of other groups defend bts going to military so much is for 2 reasons: they somehow believe with bts gone for 18 months their favs will get more attention and become the top group since THE top group is not there and the other reason is because bg fans have this mentality of "if my favs had to suffer your favs should too" same as some korean men.

It's weird to see foreigners and women fighting over which Korean men deserve exemption from the Korean military

The entire future of KPop hangs on balance.

Either BTS continues the expansion of KPop and other acts follow and the empire becomes eternal,

or,

BTS is dragged to the military and IU, the Senior Singer who had fulfilled her military services 11 years ago, regains the initiative of Kpop and returns it back to 1991.

Right now, South KOrea can happily boast of having the biggest boy band in the world (this is not an easy feat) ..all the accolades that BTS receive brings massive prestige to their country. Imagine sending them into the military and losing all that soft power for the next 2 years. Then there's always that uncertainty in the future if they choose not to comeback or are unable to. The government would be dumb to chance it.

I-fans have no relevance to the decision.

But I find it funny when economic arguments are used, not just in this case, but about conflicts across the world, between countries or within countries.

While economy has been the reason for many conflicts in history, the current narrative is that it will affect economy, so no to conflict and no to conscription.

That does not work, causes like nationalism, religion, honor etc. override 'economic' costs, in many contexts.

It might be a matter of pride to BTS personally and Koreans as people, that even their greatest celebrities undergo conscription like any citizen.

In fact, even if the SK govt exempts, if BTS still volunteer that might even further their status.

Besides, only thing they can't do is do concert touring, otherwise what stops them from releasing pre-recorded material or even recording during breaks during the period?

Jay Park was sitting on Ganadara for two years, didn't he?

But anyway.. when fandoms discuss even hairstyles to death, this can't be avoided, I suppose.

Quote from WhyKnock

The entire future of KPop hangs on balance.

Either BTS continues the expansion of KPop and other acts follow and the empire becomes eternal,

or,

BTS is dragged to the military and IU, the Senior Singer who had fulfilled her military services 11 years ago, regains the initiative of Kpop and returns it back to 1991.

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Don't worry, IU Sunbaenim will visit the boyz in the camps, to console them .

But you will get no consolation.

I was reflecting on this topic last night and realized that any kind of mandatory military service actually makes me angry and distressed, which is why I'm so infuriated by many of the takes on this subject. And it's also why I should probably step away from the topic going forward.

My dad got drafted in Vietnam and it not only fucked him up for life with mental illness but his mental illness then also fucked up his family, including me. We all ended up with mental illnesses (my mom, me, both of my sisters) and have needed years of medication and therapy because living with my dad when he was really sick was hell on Earth. I got the worst of it because I was youngest and my sisters had gone off to college already.

He's so much better now, for which I'm grateful, but I will have to take psychiatric meds for the rest of my life because he was so emotionally abusive when I was an adolescent/teen (he was a really good dad when I was little but he got worse over time). I know that his life would've been very different if he hadn't been FORCED to serve in the military. I can't help but think of these things whenever I hear about mandatory service in any country. I don't view it as patriotic in any way. It can be horrible and do horrible things to people, which makes them do horrible things to their families.

I can't support conscription. Service should be voluntary and compensated fairly. My opinion counts for nothing but I wanted to share it anyway. The idea of BTS serving is kind of scary to me but not because I'm scared for them. The very idea of mandatory service triggers some PTSD shit that I wasn't fully aware of until I sat down and thought about.

Hmm let me first say anything I’m saying is merely a discussions as a fan and just that, I’m not Korean, I’m not government official whatever.

I’ve seen these talks since idk, 2016?? Personally I think BTS should get it based on criteria for other arts fields if you really think about it, but since it’s not a discussion thing and more a achieve x thing (more objective than subjective) to make it more fair I understand where the turmoil comes from.

I don’t think any of them is trying to get exempt but more like getting their schedules on track since the pandemic hit and restrictions fucked up all their tours stops, if they get exemption they can conclude their tour and enlist right after. But that’s what I think! I have absolutely no way to know.

And last I’m all for anyone who gets an exemption fairly and I don’t think they should be shamed for it, from the stories I’ve heard it’s really a lottery, and it goes for any country, really… there’s people in military who will abuse their power and I don’t wish that on anyone. At the same time, for any celebrity who get exemption they may suffer public backlash that could lead to mental suffering and deep witch hunts that could envolve even their family. I don’t think there’s any easy route or decision and I just hope whatever happens they can just be fine

Edit: forgot to add for me most people making it a big deal right now are kpop fans trying to create a smear campaign against BTS, people will only care once a final statement is made.