On 21st August 2020, the Korean Pop Band BTS released their new song "Dynamite", and within no time the song smashed records and rose to the top of Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart.
With that, BTS became the first-ever Asian group to do so and that has re-ignited a debate which is rather popular amongst the fans of the group in South Korea and the world over.
Will BTS be made to serve in the military? Would that be the end of BTS? Or will they be exempted from the mandatory military service?
Before we answer all these questions, let us first understand why South Korean men are required to serve in the army.
Up until the 1940s, the Korean peninsula was one country. But the world war led to its division into North and South. So ever since then, there have been numerous armed confrontations between the 2 sides.
Thus to prepare the nation for a sudden North Korean attack, the Government of South Korea has made the military service mandatory for all able-bodied South Korean men.
So how long is the military service?
For active-duty soldiers, it includes longer durations of military service but for Sportsmen and artists, the duration is about 2 years and 10 months.
And the age limit for initiation of the service is 28. So any able-bodied South Korean male has to sign up for military service before getting past the age of 28.
But there have been hundreds of South Koreans who have escaped it. So who are exempted from joining the army?
Current conscription regulations stipulate that athletes who win medals in the Olympic Games or gold medals in the Asian Games are granted exemptions from military service and are placed in Grade 4. They are required to do four weeks of basic military training and engage in the sports field for 42 months. After that, they are automatically placed on the reserve roster and are obligated to attend a few days of annual military training for six years.
Thus this allows the athletes to pursue their sporting careers undisturbed.
One of the most notable athletes exempted from serving in the military is footballer Son Heung Minh who plays for the English club Tottenham Hotspurs.
Apart from athletes, classical artists have also been exempted from winning international competitions.
So in this case, topping the Billboard charts is a great achievement for a band, but BTS is neither a classical music group nor is the Billboard chart an internationally recognized competition.
So legally speaking, BTS does not fit into any criteria for exemption.
But there have been arguments made in favor of exemption for BTS which say that BTS has roped in billions in terms of revenue for South Korea with their music, but more than that they have launched the Korean Pop industry to a level which could never have been imagined in the past.
So what does the future hold for BTS?
With the oldest member Jin turning 28 in December 2020 any decision on the band's future has to be taken in the coming months.
Now let's go through a few scenarios which might play out for the band.
1. Exemption
The best-case scenario for their career would be an exemption from the military service. But to be fair to the group, they have always maintained that they're ready to serve their time in the army whenever they're called upon.
2. All go at once
If all of them go for the military service at the same time, they can all finish together within 2-3 years and unite the group again in 3 years. But what this will mean is that there will be no BTS at all for 3 years.
A possible solution to this is that they can record songs in advance to be released over the period when they're away.
3. Taking a staggered approach
In this proposition, a staggered approach has been suggested wherein the oldest member Jin will be joining in 2020, followed by the other members over the subsequent years in a way that at any given time at least 3-4 members from the group will be present.
But this approach also means that we won't have BTS in its entirety of 7 members till at least 2027.
So we have tried to explain how the future of BTS can play out, but the final decision rests in the hands of South Korean authorities.
BTS fans all over the world are called "Army". Now whether this Army is able to prevent them from serving in an actual army, it remains to be seen.