The Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism talked about BTS' pending military enlistment.
Keep on reading to know more.
Korean Government Reveals That They Would Delay BTS' Mandatory Military Enlistment
On the afternoon of June 23, KST, Hwang Hee, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, talked about BTS' pending enlistment in the military on a broadcast on YTN, a Korean news channel.
According to Minister Hwang Hee, if BTS were to apply for their mandatory military enlistment, the Korean government would most likely delay their enlistment. "BTS hasn't submitted an application for military service yet. But if they do, the government will naturally push for their military enlistment postponement," said, Minister Hwang Hee.
Prior to this, back in December 2020, South Korea passed a revised law under the Military Service Act, which grants an artist of pop culture who has greatly enhanced South Korea's national prestige both within the country and throughout the world to postpone their mandatory military enlistment until the age of 30 and was given a recommendation by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
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In light of this, BTS became a hot topic both domestic and international as netizens debate on the group's eligibility for postponement under the revised law, especially as BTS' oldest member, Jin, is currently 28 years old (29 in Korean age) and would have to enlist soon.
In addition, many netizens have also pointed out that the revised law only benefits BTS due to the scope of those who can apply for postponement. Minister Hwang Hee said, "We will make considerations through fairness, equity, and the opinions of the Ministry of National Defense."
Prior to the revision of the Military Service Act, all able-bodied Korean men between the ages of 18 and 28 were required to serve in the military for about 20 months. Exemptions or deferrals from military service were only granted to high-profile athletes and classical musicians.
Meanwhile, the revised law for pop culture artists allows them to postpone their enlistment until the age of 30 upon the recommendation of the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism and if they are recognized for being awarded cultural merit.
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BTS Snags Three Oricon Charts With Japanese Album "BTS, THE BEST"
BTS achieves a triple crown for this week's Oricon charts with their recently released Japanese compilation album, "BTS, THE BEST," back on June 16.
According to the latest chart released by Oricon on June 23 for the week of June 28, BTS ranked No.1 in the weekly Digital Album chart with 7,603 downloads accumulated from June 14 to 20. This marks the group's eighth week topping the chart, setting a new record once again.
In addition, their recently released hit digital single "Butter," which was released on May 21, topped the latest weekly Streaming chart, with a total of 12,636,333 streams accumulated, making it their fifth consecutive week at No.1 on the chart since May 31. As of this writing, the streams for "Butter" in Japan have a total of 90,297,871 streams and is expected to hit 100 million soon.
This is also the first time that BTS has taken the No.1 spot on both the Digital Album and the Streaming charts at the same time. According to Big Hit Music, placing at No.1 on both the album and singles charts at the same time is already an exceptional achievement.
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Besides that, BTS also topped the weekly Album chart with an accumulated album sales of 782,000 copies in its first week of release, making it the highest sales record for the first week this year on Oricon's weekly Album charts.
With this, BTS took home a triple crown on Oricon's weekly charts, setting a new record as the fourth group in Oricon history to take first place in three categories for weekly music charts.
Congratulations BTS!
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Written by Robyn Joan
