Wendy Li, Period 6, 12/8/2022

Wendy Li

Period 6

12/8/22

Modern Mythology 2023

Socio-Political Consciousness

About 2 months ago, a South Korean boy band, BTS, announced that they would go on hiatus in order to fulfill South Korea’s mandatory military service requirement. The law stated that all able-bodied men must serve in the military to defend against North Korea between the age of 18 and 28. In most situations, the government would expect the members of BTS to follow the law, but in this case, things aren’t as simple. 

From meeting President Joe Biden in order to address Anti-Asian hate crimes to becoming the first Korean pop group nominated for a Grammy award, BTS has become a global sensation. In total, they have contributed about 3.9 billion dollars to the Korean economy. As a result, whether BTS should join the military or not has become a widely debated topic. Many of their fans believe that they’ve done more than enough for the country, however, more traditional elders feel that BTS shouldn’t be an exception to the law.

While I understand both sides, I tend to side with the idea that BTS should be exempt from the military, mainly because of their large sphere of influence. In 2018, the band released its “Love Yourself” Album collection, with the main concept of accepting yourself for who you are. Many of the members have also been open about their struggle with body image and how they’ve grown from that. Thus, having such significant power, motivated many people, including myself, to not always focus on the negative side of things.  Another example is when BTS member, Jimin posted "#Jungin-ah I'm sorry” on Weverse, attracting public attention to a child abuse case, which ultimately led to a life imprisonment sentence for the child’s mother. I find these actions to be justified and even encouraged as many similar cases like this would be ignored. 

With all that being said, I want to acknowledge that mandatory military service has been an integral part of Korean society. As someone who is looking at this from a different country, I don’t know the culture and society well enough to judge its laws or Korean society’s more traditional way of thinking. Furthermore, I ask myself if I truly want BTS to be exempt from the military because of their contributions to the world or if I’m selfish and just want to look forwards to additional songs and solo albums. Ultimately, I hope that I can use the strength from their music to help me achieve my goals until they can return.