Son Heung-min exempt from military service, but not BTS?

The South Korean national football team poses for a commemorative photograph on Sept. 3 at Incheon International Airport after returning from the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia, with a gold medal title. The team was greeted by a hoard of adoring fans.

Debate over standards on mandatory conscription heats up after close of Asian Games

The 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang may have come to a close, but the debate over mandatory military service exemptions for gold medal winners is heating up. On Sept. 3, the Military Manpower Administration (MMA) announced plans to undertake a full-scale review of its special military service exemption system for artists and athletes.

“Due to the recent controversy, I felt that [the] time has come for us to look into the exemption system,” MMA commissioner Ki Chan-soo was quoted as saying on Sept. 3 in a Yonhap News report.

“[We] plan to conduct an overall review of the system for athletes and artists,” he continued.

The MMA reportedly plans to establish a task force or commission an outside agency to devise an improvement plan.

“Because of the future decline in military resources, the converted service system [allowing the performance of military service as a riot police officer or firefighter rather than a combat soldier] is also to be discontinued,” Ki said.

“Our first order of business is to examine institutional improvements applying more rigorous standards for military service exemptions,” he added.

After Ki’s remarks were reported, the Ministry of National Defense responded immediately with a statement calling them “the standard position of the MMA in connection with the fairness of the military service obligation.”

“We are not currently examining the artist and athlete system [to introduce more rigorous standards,” the ministry said.

At the time day, it did leave the possibility of a reexamination open, announcing plans to “gather opinions from the MMA and related agencies on the need for improvements to the artist/athlete system.”

Reexamination of entire military service system to take place over long term

A ministry senior official said, “The reality is that a reexamination of the entire military service system, including converted and alternative service, will be unavoidable in the medium to long term.”

“It’s not really possible at the moment to change only the system for artists and athletes, which applies only to a few people,” the official added. “That issue will be examined in the process of redesigning the entire military service system over the medium and long term.”

According to Article 33-7 of the Military Service Act and Article 68 of its enforcement decree, the “athlete” category included all Olympic medalists and gold medalists at the Asian Games, while the “artist” category includes those having placed first or second at an international art competition or first at a national art competition or having completed formal education in an Important Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The individuals in question receive four weeks of basic military training before returning to civilian life; their military service is viewed as complete once they have worked for 34 months in their respective area (sports or art) and completed 544 hours of volunteer activities using their area of expertise. In practice, it amounts to an exemption system. A total of 42 athletes received military service exemptions at the recent Asian Games; in cases of team events, an athlete is eligible after even a single minute of competition.

The South Korean national baseball team poses for a commemorative photographer on Sept. 3 at Incheon International Airport after returning from the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia, with a gold medal title. Unlike the national football team, however, there was no welcoming party, and the athletes posed without their medals. An official of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) said that head coach Sun Don-yol decided to keep things quiet in light of the media controversy surrounding the military service exemption for athletes.

Controversy surrounding exemption granted for athletes

The issue of military service exemptions for athletes has been a source of repeated controversy. Most of the beneficiaries are professional athletes in sports such as football and baseball. In 2014, Kia Tigers baseball player Na Ji-wan drew condemnation for receiving an exemption by being named to the national team at the Incheon Asian Games despite concealing an injury. This time, the controversy focused on the national team selection of LG Twins player Oh Ji-hwan, who gave up delayed his recruitment into the South Korean military team last year before being selected to the national team for this year’s Asian Games.

Nine of 24 members of the national baseball team received military service exemptions as gold-medal beneficiaries after this year’s Asian Games. While the football team has faced fewer denunciations, all 20 members received beneficial military service treatment, including Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur) and Hwang Ui-jo (Gamba Osaka).

The topic of military service is a very sensitive one for athletes, who can expect to play until their mid- to late thirties at most. But critics have repeatedly argued that it violates fairness for them to receive exemptions based on a single performance. Even members of the athletic committee have stated the need for changes. Speaking at a Sept. 2 disbandment ceremony for the Asian Games national team, Korean Sport & Olympic Committee president Lee Kee-heung said, “I have thought about perhaps a system benefiting athletes who acquire a lot of ‘mileage’ with performances in the Olympics, Asian Games, and world championships.”

Another idea that has been mentioned involves eliminating the special exemption system altogether and deferring the military service period until after the athletes’ retirement. In a Sept. 3 contribution to the Hankyoreh, Sookmyung Women’s University professor Hong Sung-soo suggested, “Offering a long deferment until the age of 35 or 40 and having [the athletes] complete their service after that.”

“This would be a way of allowing them to serve society with the thing they are truly good at,” he said.

Exemption for artists granted only to those in the “pure arts”

Some have also complained about the artist exemptions applying only to practitioners of “pure arts.” During a meeting of the National Assembly National Defense Committee in July, Bareunmirae Party member Ha Tae-keung brought up the issue of public opinion surrounding the denial of military service exemptions for the music group BTS.

“You’re given a special exemption if you finish first in a classical music competition on the violin or piano, but they don’t give an exemption if you top the Billboard charts,” he noted.

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer, and Kim Yang-hee, staff reporter

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