SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — Chen, a member of K-pop boy band EXO, will join the military later this month to fulfill his mandatory military service, his agency said Friday. The 28-year-old, whose legal name is Kim Jong-dae, is set to enlist on Oct. 26, according to SM Entertainment. The agency did not elaborate [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Almost 60 percent of South Koreans are in support of allowing distinguished pop culture artists to postpone their mandatory military service, a poll showed Thursday. According to the poll conducted on 500 people aged 18 or above by Realmeter, 58.8 percent of the respondents said they favor the government [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — The government is working on a plan to allow pop culture celebrities credited for contributing to improving the country’s image to postpone their mandatory military service, the military recruitment agency said Tuesday. The plan came amid talk of whether K-pop boy band BTS members should be given such favors [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — A prominent ruling party lawmaker said Tuesday members of K-pop superstar BTS should be offered preferential treatment in terms of their mandatory military duties. “Why is it OK for Son Heung-min but not for BTS?,” Rep. Noh Woong-rae of the ruling Democratic Party said in a radio interview with [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — A Jehovah’s Witness who objected military service based on his religious faith has been convicted for violation of the Military Service Act. The grounds for the guilty verdict was that he previously enjoyed playing online shooting games, killing other gamers without feeling any pangs of conscience. For the man [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — As BTS conquered the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week with “Dynamite,” the achievement has also rekindled a debate on whether global K-pop stars should be offered preferential treatment in terms of military duties so as to avoid a hiatus during the height of their careers. On Tuesday, BTS [...]
CHANGWON, Aug. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — Actor Park Bo-gum started his mandatory military duty Monday. Dressed in black, Park entered the Navy Education and Training Command in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, at 2 p.m. As his agency Blossom Entertainment has promised no farewell event at the training camp due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 26-year-old [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — Postgraduate students serving as ‘technical research personnel’ instead of joining the military will lose their military duty exemption if they fail to obtain a doctorate degree during their service period, the defense ministry said Thursday. The Ministry of Defense issued advance notice for the revision of the legislation containing [...]
SEOUL, July 21 (Korea Bizwire) — K-pop artist and producer Zico will begin his alternative military service later this month, his management agency said Tuesday. He will enter a boot camp on July 30 for four weeks of basic military training and will then serve as a social worker, according to KOZ Entertainment. All able-bodied [...]
SEOUL, June 30 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea on Tuesday began accepting applications from men who want to substitute mandatory military service for other public services due to religious or personal beliefs, the military manpower agency said. By law, all able-bodied South Korean men must carry out military service for about two years in a [...]