BTS’ ‘beyond today’ continues despite the military service issue

G-Dragon’s song ‘Crooked’ begins with a bold declaration. “Nothing is eternal.” Was it foreshadowing the sudden downfall of the group Big Bang, whose splendid popularity seemed to last forever? In fact, it is a very common aphorism (oral).

It’s a song that has appeared many times in other songs, but I don’t think it’s as provocative as this one. Yes. nothing is forever Like the saying that all humans die, it is a proposition that is inevitably correct, and this proposition also applies to BTS. BTS will end someday too. Quite a few people doubt that now is the time.

The members as well as the agency made it clear. It’s not about stopping activities completely, it’s about taking a short break to recharge.

Nevertheless, the distrust and anxiety did not disappear and were reflected in the stock price of the agency Hive. There is also an opinion that one of the reasons why BTS decided to temporarily suspend group activities is military service, and there were several articles like this, especially in foreign media.

Reuters reported that military service is a very controversial topic in Korea, and that the results of discussions on alternative service-related bills currently being discussed in the National Assembly will have great meaning for BTS. Today’s column is also a rebuttal to this.

The Reuters report is right and wrong. It doesn’t seem like it’s being discussed so hard in the National Assembly. I briefly mentioned this issue in another column a few months ago, but nothing has changed since then. Until just before the election, both parties often talked about this issue, but after the election, everyone seems to be unaware. Looking for the most recent remarks of high-ranking officials, two things stand out.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Bo-gyun said that public opinion is more important than anything else, and said, “We are not taking the initiative, but we approached it with this attitude and delivered our opinions to the Military Manpower Administration and the National Assembly.

” When Lee Ki-sik, director of the Military Manpower Administration, attended the National Assembly Defense Committee, he said, “It is necessary to consider the lack of military service resources as the biggest point of view in the future and collect public opinions.”

This is the point I miss the most. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Military Manpower Administration, and the ruling opposition parties are all putting off the importance of public opinion on this issue.

If that’s the case, I would have to make an attempt to fully listen to the public opinion, but I haven’t seen one of those common public hearings. Even though public opinion polls have been conducted several times in the private sector. This is an area that has been lacking in the legislative-policy decision-making process in Korea from the past.

Both public hearings and hearings are difficult because they are in Chinese, but English is rather simple. Hearing. It means to listen. How do you gather public opinion without listening? In a situation where the online system is well established like in Korea, it is possible to hold an online public hearing without needing to bring people together.

In particular, it may be easier for the younger generation, who are the parties to the improvement of the military service system, to participate in the online public hearing. I, the father of a son who will soon turn 20, also wants to participate.

Jin, who is the oldest among the members, was born in 1992 and should have already served in the military, but in accordance with the revised military service law in 2020, he received a recommendation from the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism to postpone his enlistment, and his enlistment has been delayed until the end of this year.

Unless the law is amended, he should enlist within a few months. It’s not just about BTS. Yunchan Lim, who recently won the ‘Van Cliburn International Piano Competition’ as the youngest ever, is also related to this problem.

problem here. If I win a contest like this, will my military service be exempted or not? Not one in 100 people will know. As a result of what I found out, Im Yoon-chan, now 18, was surprisingly exempted from the military three years ago.

Lim won the 2019 ‘Isang Yun International Music Concours’ and his alternative service has been confirmed. Then the next problem. How many contests are there in which alternative service is possible? The correct answer is 28.

The military service period, which was 36 months, was cut in half. His birth rate and the number of military service members are also falling sharply every year. In 1973, when the provision of special military service was first enacted, the rationale was ‘increasing national awareness’.

Whether this evidence is still valid now, and if so, should the subject be the same as before? Whether it is target expansion, adjustment, or abolition altogether, either way. So let’s listen to the voices of the people right now.

G-Dragon sang at the end saying, “Nothing lasts forever,” whereas BTS sang this on ‘Not Today’. “Someday the flowers will wither, but that day is not today.”

The same line appears in the movie <Top Gun: Maverick>, in which Tom Cruise, who is over 60 years old, performed his best. “There will come a day when I will no longer be able to drive a fighter, but that day is not today,” he said.

I don’t know how the military service law will be revised. Both the government and the ruling opposition parties may procrastinate and pass the year. However, the end of BTS will not be here. Separately and together they will go further. To a place no one has been to yet.