Not to in any way pretend to be an expert on South Korean society, but I did a fair amount of study on the relations between North and South Koreas while working on my master’s degree and if you’ll allow me, I’d like to add some perspective on today’s news. For those of us who live in countries that do not require military service from all able bodied men, and in some countries men and women, the enlistment of South Korean idols can come as a shock which can pull up some surprisingly negative emotions. However, in South Korea, all boys grow up with the knowledge that at some point they will be leaving their regular lives for two years or so to serve their country and it is all very normal and expected. They know their fathers and uncles did it, and they’ve watched older brothers. cousins, neighbors, and school mates enlist and ship out. Everyone who is in a romantic relationship, is married, or has a family is prepared to be separated from loved ones during enlistment and is aware that everyone will be waiting right there for them when they get back. All the people who are left behind are prepared as well because it is simply a part of their culture and they gracefully make it work. Also, the perspective of what military enlistment actually entails is different from country to country. Just for example, I live in the US and there are military training bases spread throughout all 3.797 million square miles of this country. Here, if someone joins the military, chances are they will go to boot camp very far away from home and members of the US military are often shipped out to places all around the world. By comparison, South Korea is 38,691 square miles, 1% the size of the US and almost all South Koreans spend their enlistment domestically. In size, South Korea falls somewhere between the state of Indiana and the state of Virginia, so Do Kyungsoo and every other member of the South Korean armed forces are actually very close to home for their two years of enlistment. They are allowed to have visitors and they get leave time to go home. Kyungsoo might actually be able to spend Christmas or New Year’s Eve with friends and family for the first time in eight years because he won’t be required to perform on TV for events and holidays while he’s enlisted. The army might actually be easier on him than working for SM Entertainment has been. All that being said, if your concern with the recent enlistments of the members from groups like Shinee and BtoB, and EXO members Kim Minseok and Do Kyungsoo is the wellbeing of those individual young men, then hopefully this information will help sooth your worry for them and the ones truly close to them. It is important here to separate the celebrity image of these idols and the belief that their sole purpose in life is to entertain us or they are somehow personally a part of our lives in the real life because feeling anger or lashing out at these young men for doing their civic and cultural duty serves no one. Believe me, I am an ardent fan of EXO and after seeing them live two times, I don’t even know how it is going to be possible to arrange the choreography, music and singing without Kyungsoo in order to put on a concert. (Seriously, how is this even going to work?!?) I will also miss new pictures and video clips of both Minseok and Kyungsoo popping up on my dash, but instead of feeling angry and cheated, I hope the fans of EXO will recognize that this is a part of Korean culture that needs to be respected and I hope that any animosity directed towards Kyungsoo will instead turn into pride and support for him doing his duty for his country. 🤗🇰🇷💕👉
izzy806
discoholicmusic
kaledo-art
dededos
