While BTS is serving, the Director General of the Military Manpower Administration mentions ”Special Military Service for Sports and Arts”... Will it be abolished?

Lee Ki-sik, Director-General of the Military Manpower Administration, commented on BTS, who is currently serving in the military, and hinted at the possibility of abolishing the special military service system for sports and artistic personnel.
In an interview with Yonhap News on the 2nd, Director Lee said, "BTS's active duty service is a testament to the fairness of fulfilling military service obligations.
"It sent a positive signal from the sidelines," he said, "The public is watching BTS members diligently serve in the military, and BTS songs are even making it onto the Billboard charts.
If all the members discharge and become a complete group again, their popularity will increase even more." In particular, Director Lee said, "The special military service system for sports and arts personnel is
"It's a system that was created when people said that participating in the past Olympics or Asian Games and winning a gold medal would raise the status of the nation," he said.
The question is whether it is still necessary. Today, it is not elite sports but social sports," he said. "Compared to when it was introduced, the supplementary service (military service exemption) system, which includes arts and sports personnel, has changed.
"There have been many changes in aspects such as public perception and the military resource situation," he said. "In order to ensure the fairness of military service and prepare for future reductions in military resource, a task force was established under the supervision of the Ministry of National Defense and other related departments.
The military service exemption was established in 1973 as a measure to allow artists and skilled personnel who contributed to the promotion of national prestige and cultural development to serve as sports and art personnel instead of military service.
The system was created with the purpose of providing alternative service to male soldiers. Although it is a form of alternative service, it was evaluated as being similar to military exemption compared to the general enlistment of male soldiers. The debate over the system of arts and sports personnel is steadily going on in Korean society.
Among those eligible for the military service exemption, those in the fields of sports and arts personnel were criticized for including compensation for individual achievements and therefore should be abolished.
Lee said there were two opinions: one to address the shortage of military resources by conscripting women, and the other to change the conscription system to a recruitment system.
"We are not considering (the introduction of female conscription)," he said. "It is still too early, and we need to make a careful decision because we are afraid that Korean society could fall into another (gender) conflict."
He continued, "The most important prerequisite for switching to a conscription system is whether or not the military can be secured stably," and added, "Some countries that have switched to a conscription system are finding it difficult to secure military resources and are reintroducing conscription."
"This has huge implications for us," he added.