▲This photo shows Sung ll-jong. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, September 2 (Yonhap) -- Chief policymaker of the ruling People Power Party, Sung ll-jong said on Friday, “See this from national interest perspective” regarding military exemptions for public cultural artists including K-pop superstars BTS.

Chief policymaker Sung was on KBS radio and said, “This is not BTS law... If there are second, third, fourth BTS in the future...”

He said, “There are currently 42 competitions that allow military exemptions,” adding, “When we made these standards for these competitions, we did not expect young youths to win American awards or Billboard awards.”

He continued, “You get exempted even if you win at The International ISANGYUN Competition or The Seoul International Dance Competition,” adding, “Standards are very unbalanced considering the national branding.”

He also said, “This is to provide equal opportunities to all, not to one specific group by country fairly managing military exemption system.”

Regarding conducting a public opinion poll of BTS’ military exemption mentioned at the National Assembly Defense Committee’s meeting on Wed., he said, “We can’t exempt them just by the result of the poll.” adding, “We just want to see how the public feels as reference. What’s important is to be fair.”

A bill to amend the Military Service Act, which allows the transfer of popular artists to art and sports personnel, is currently pending in the National Assembly.


(This article is translated from Korean to English by Jiwon Woo.)

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