© 2024 Hawaiʻi Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
To our HPR-1 listeners on Kaua‘i (KIPL): Our transmitter will be powered down for tower maintenance on Friday 10/4, 10am-3pm. Mahalo for your understanding.

K-Pop Group BTS Won't Be Exempt From Military Service

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. Even K-pop stars get treated the same as everyone else. In South Korea, there is compulsory military service for men, but some athletes and classical artists are exempt if they tour around the world. Recently, there've been calls for supergroups like BTS to get waivers, too. So the government considered it, but then there was all kinds of backlash. In the end, the culture minister said they will have to enlist even though he personally wished he could give BTS an exemption. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

More from Hawai‘i Public Radio