South Korea culture, sports and tourism Minister Hwang Hee has given BTS ARMY the hope that the BTS boys might not have to join the military. For the unversed the septet boy band faced enlistment this year, to join the military force. The minister has also revealed that he has placed the request in front of the parliament to approve and has given the Army assurance that the boys would continue to be their idols and not join the force.
Hwang Hee said, “It’s time to create a system for incorporating popular culture-art figures as art personnel. The system has been operated meaningfully to give those who have enhanced the national status based on their excellent skills more chances to contribute to the country, and there is no reason the popular art-culture field should be excluded from this.”
Talking about BTS he said, “I thought somebody should be a responsible voice at a time when there are conflicting pros and cons ahead of the enlistment of some of the BTS members.” He further stated that forcing BTS members to take a hiatus from their music career to serve in the military would create a great loss to South Korea and also the entire world.
Showing support, one fan wrote, “They (BTS) don’t need it. They deserve it.”, another commented, “Yes BTS contributed a lot to the economy of Korea, it’s more than enough to serve their military service.” another wrote, “In 2019 they brought in a 4.7 million dollars to SK. The percentage of GDP they bring into the country is on the same level as major brands such as Samsung and Hyundai. And that’s not even touching the cultural impact they’ve made.” as quoted by Hindustan Times.