BTS AMRY breathe a sigh of relief for the K-pop mega boy band BTS can now postpone their mandatory military service after a senior military official in South Korea made the announcement recently.
In the statement, the officer added that the deferment is because it is in the country’s “national interest”.
This comes after a recent amendment to the country’s Military Service Act which went into effect starting 23 June. The amendment states that those chart-topping septet can defer their military service until the age of 30.
According to the South Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun, Head of Seoul’s Military Manpower Administration Jung Seok-hwan said that the exceptions were made for “outstanding artistes” who “increase the value of the national brand”.
Nonetheless, to be eligible for this deferment, South Korean men are required to obtain cultural merit awards from the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.
By law, South Korean men are required to be enlisted for the military service by age of 28.
This means that oldest member of the group, Jin, 28, can now wait till 2022 to enlist, while Jungkook, the youngest at 23, can defer military service until 2027.
Nonetheless, BTS was conferred the Order of Cultural Merit in 2018 for their contributions to the global popularity of Korean culture and encourage more people around the world to learn the Korean language.
According to The Straits Times, this honour is usually given to those with more than 15 years of contributions but BTS managed to earn themselves the reward in just five years after their debut.
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