#Hm had heard somewhere that they enlisted because of propaganda boost but given the outome maybe not true #I’d be surprised as well if they chose this because it’d be less demanding than their current management’s expectation which is what others speculated
hi! both of these theories are wrong, so i’ll break them down:
the south korean government has been debating whether or not to exempt BTS for the last three years or so, due to the huge amount of money they bring into the country in terms of tourism, goods, etc. some people thought they should be exempted completely, some thought they shouldn’t get any special treatment, and others thought they could have some kind of special circumstance, like how soccer player son heung-min only had to do basic training for three weeks instead of the full 18 months.
earlier this year, south korea elected a new far-right president, yoon suk-yeol, who ran on a platform of appealing to incels, saying feminism is corrupting and evil, the #MeToo movement hurts poor innocent men, there should be a 120 hour work week, etc. before this year, south korea had president moon jae-in, who was sort of a left leaning moderate (think biden and obama type politics) and specifically made a lot of strides in women’s rights in korea.
BTS was given a special Order Of Cultural Merit from president moon a few years ago, and they worked with him several times during their UN work, including being interviewed with him and more — and they were also given an exemption where they could delay their military service by two years (age 30 instead of age 28) while the debates continued. when president yoon was elected this year, however, BTS suddenly stopped being involved with south korean politics, other than smaller things like still being the face of seoul’s tourism ads and helping the city of busan with their world expo bid.
the government announced earlier this year that they were still, after all this time, debating whether or not to exempt BTS — and they said a few weeks ago that they would finally decide and make an announcement at the end of october. since president yoon’s administration took over, the conversation around BTS’s potential exemption shifted to essentially “how about we make BTS enlist normally, but we’ll also make them keep performing, and it’s illegal to make money while in the south korean military, so all the money from these performances will go to president yoon :)” which as you can imagine is not exactly the greatest, considering BTS has always leaned pretty left in their politics (one member has even talked about being pro-palestine, he said he wrote an anti-capitalism song after reading das kapital, he recently got put on a blacklist made by korean incels because he’s ~too feminist~…….. so i can’t imagine he’d be particularly happy doing campaign events for the incel guy)
so with the new administration, BTS’s choices were:
serve in the military for the full 18 months while being forced to do propaganda concerts that exclusively benefit a far-right conservative politician
serve normally *and separately* for the full 18 months, because if the seven members don’t all enlist at the same time, they can’t be forced to perform together ~as BTS~
flee the country and never return, and their whole home country views them as draft dodgers
go to prison for 3+ years, and their whole home country views them as draft dodgers
and that’s why BTS suddenly announced the other day that they’re not waiting for the government to decide anything and that they’re joining the military normally, and that they won’t be a full group again until 2025, three years from now (aka two separate blocks of 18 months). the oldest members are going soon, and then the younger members will go once they’re out — all so they can avoid being president yoon’s little propaganda puppets.
given the fact that this has been the response to BTS’s enlistment announcement in the korean government and media—
—and everyone’s talking about how this is BTS’s giant middle finger to the yoon administration + how this is making the south korean general public REALLY criticize the yoon administration for how they handled this, i don’t think it had anything to do with a “propaganda boost.”
with the second point, with you mentioning how some people are saying that enlisting in the military would be “less demanding than their current management’s expectations” — i’ve been pretty invested in this whole news event, and i can honestly say this is the very first time i’ve seen THAT particular idea. i did see a couple armys talking about how they hope the military is a ~nice little break from fame~ so like.. what is it with people assuming the military is going to be a fun little vacation???
i know it’s a popular conspiracy theory with westerners to read “kpop is an evil industry that exploits idols and treats them like slaves” in some article written by a white american and then just run with it and specifically assume every single company operates the exact same way, but BTS are some of the highest paid korean entertainers of all time, the members renegotiated their contracts years ago to be highly beneficial for them and since then have produced content at a much slower rate while being paid much more (all while talking about mental health awareness, mentioning that their company encourages them all to have therapists, specifically talking about how kpop is such a demanding industry and how they’re challenging that, etc), all the members are currently major shareholders in HYBE entertainment and therefore have significantly more control over the company as a whole than most singers across any entertainment industry on earth, they all talk constantly about the creative control they have over their own music and concepts, etc.
i’m not saying there aren’t some extremely exploitive kpop companies out there — certain companies in the industry (cough, SM entertainment) have been sued by former idols over a dozen times for mistreatment and are known for having “slave contracts,” while other companies have never been sued and are known for paying much more and treating their idols much better. basically, i’m saying that BTS are big boys and they’re doing just fine making millions of dollars at the company they partially own. like, it’s still a job, they still work very hard, and it’s still a company in a very capitalist industry, but like…. the south korean military is known for being so extreme that over 60% of military deaths are from suicide, and “it has been confirmed that severe beatings, physical abuse, verbal abuse, and sexual violence have significant effects on the suicidal impulses” of these men, who are all there without choice.
so…………………….. idk about y’all, but personally i’d rather have a job where i’m paid 10+ million dollars a year to sing and dance than be forced to join a military that’s known for bullying, beatings, and suicide
