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Head of Military Manpower Administration: “Fairness should be an immutable topic when it comes to obligatory military service… BTS is the same”

Lee Ki-sik, head of the Military Manpower Administration, said on June 24th, “Fairness should be an immutable topic when it comes to obligatory military service.”

Regarding the controversy surrounding BTS members’ enlistment, in a meeting with reporters on the afternoon of the same day, Commissioner Lee said, “Obligatory military service is common not only to BTS but also to all young Koreans.”

Lee Ki-shik

Commissioner Lee emphasized, “The biggest topic among young people is fairness. We need to get rid of those who evade military service as much as possible and feel, ‘Ah, everyone goes to the army fairly.

He also mentioned, “The biggest problem in conscription administration is that military service resources are gradually decreasing. The biggest challenge is how to make and send good resources to the military.

When asked “Are there any BTS members who applied for enlistment?”, Commissioner Lee replied, “I don’t know. There were no members who said they wouldn’t join the army.

BTS Yet To Come m countdown

Currently, a bill to amend the Military Service Act is pending in the National Assembly to allow popular artists who have achieved great achievements to be transferred to art and sports personnel. However, the process of revising the bill according to the agreement between the ruling and opposition parties is a long way off.

BTS

BTS members, who fall under the Military Service Act as “excellent in the field of popular culture and arts” (those who were awarded cultural medals and recommended by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism for their outstanding contribution to promoting national prestige), can defer enlistment until the age of 30. However, the eldest member Jin (real name Kim Seok-jin) was born in 1992, so under the current law, he cannot avoid enlistment after the end of this year.

BTS

In response to the issue of expanding military service exemptions for semiconductor professionals under consideration by military authorities following President Yoon Seok-yeol’s policy to foster the semiconductor industry, Commissioner Lee explained, “We are hiring skilled industrial personnel, and there are semiconductor-related personnel. It means not expanding it for those people, but looking at it within the overall framework.

military-act

Commissioner Lee said, “We are interested in allowing young people who enter the military to choose a department that suits their specialties, and allowing those who choose (the department they want) to enter the same occupational category when they are discharged from the military. Many universities are interested in this, too. It will be a performance analysis to some extent in the next 2 years or so.

Source: dispatch

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