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▲ This photo, captured from BTS's official Twitter, shows the superband BTS. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Apr. 8 (Yonhap) -- 6 out of 10 South Koreans believe that pop artists, who elevated the country’s status, should be exempted or replaced in their military service, according to a public opinion poll on Friday.
According to the poll conducted by Gallup Korea on 1,004 people, 18 years and older, 59% said that pop artists should be included in the exemption, while 33% said they should not be included.
Those who didn't have a preferred opinion stood at 8 percent.
The poll showed that the position on whether pop artists should be included into exemption from military enlistment was not different depending on the supporting party or political orientation.
Korean military law grants such exemptions for artistic and athlete agents who enhanced national prestige, but it has been argued that popular artists such as BTS should also be included in the system.
There is a bill currently pending at the National Assembly, whether to include BTS and other leading pop artists as artist agents and allow them to serve in alternative military service.
The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
The poll was conducted from interviews by telephone investigators with 90% wireless and 10% Random Digital Dialing (RDD), and the response rate was 11.5%.
For more information, refer to the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.
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