More good news for BTS.
The New York Times reports South Korea’s National Assembly just passed a law that will allow BTS member Kim Seok-jin to delay mandatory military service for another two years.
The law known as the BTS law will allow some male K-pop stars to delay mandatory military service until age 30.
Jin turns 28 tomorrow, the current mandatory draft age, and would have had to leave the group. He is the oldest BTS member.
Just yesterday, BTS landed in the number 1 spot on the Billboard charts for their hit single Life Goes On. That’s the first non-English song to debut at number 1. That came just days after receiving their first Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for Dynamite.
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The recent news cemented K-pop’s influence in American culture.
According to Vulture, the passage of the BTS law allows K-pop stars who have been awarded the government’s “Order of Cultural Merit” can apply for the two year delay.
Currently exemptions are also granted for top athletes like Olympians or classical and folk musicians.
“It’s a sacred duty to defend our country, but that doesn’t mean that everyone has to carry a weapon,” Noh Woong-rae of South Korea’s Democratic Party, said in an October, according to Rolling Stone.
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