Ahh, man. Now you've got me interested in this Yoo Seung Jun person. You tease. ;) Interesting article as always... you seem to find really random stuff that still manages to interest me. Thank you. ^_^

Yeah well. Problem is you've got to admit two years is certainly long. I mean I think it would be easier if it was "only" six months or so... but Two Years! My that's long!
Well in France, the service has been completely suppressed so no big deal. The only "obligation" is to spend a whole day ( your meal and transportation fee is paid by the State and If you've got there by car, they pay you 15€. Lol I remember 6 or 5 Years ago when I did it, I almost forced my father to get me there just to get the pocket money ^^) listening to some stuffs about the army. Basically they also ask you to answer a questionnaire as a statistic data for the level of culture of 18 years old. You get some really stupid questions such as "What's the date of the National Day" and the likes...
By the way I'm pretty curious: Let's say you're a Korean male born in the States or in whatever other country and your nationality is American. You marry a Korean woman, both your parents are Korean and you want to change Nationality. If you're granted the Korean nationality, do you still have to do the military service?

Yes, it is rather distasteful when celebs do act as if they are above the law. Obviously the should be punished for this! However, I must say, the 2 years mandatory military service is reasonable considering South Korea is technically speaking still at war with North Korea. Hopefully, there will be an armistice in the future and the mandatory military obligation will be suppressed. But I believe that if you are citizen of a country you should support it and being in the military service could be viewed as "doing your part for society". I have to admit though, it is unfair that women are exempt from this.

Lol Jane. I had forgotten the problem of the armistice. However I must disagree with the "it is unfair that women are exempt from this."
I mean well you know how Asian Societies are always Men above Women in terms of status ( I must say there's lots of things to improve in the West as well but still they're much more progressives than Asians on the whole ) so to be entirely fair if you ask women to take the military service than you must be fairer on the whole in terms of treatment in everyday life, especially when it comes to work. Even my female Korean teachers who go frequently to Korea told us that though women status has improved there's still LOTS to do to attain the status they have in Europe.

quote: "I have to admit though, it is unfair that women are exempt from this."
yeah and i think women being the one's that carry and birth a child is unfair but what can one do rigth... :S

mandatory military service is actually not only in korea. i know other asian countries have it as well. here, we have something similar called ROTC or CAT. but its more of training and such. hehehe

its hard on these people im sure as well. but i guess its also a rigtheous honorable citizen's duty that need get over with. like those who gave up citizenships for it.
im sad really sad. but if their life is must be done, get it over with dignity and pride rather than look like a person running away from it. among the recent batch, jang woo hyuk seemed so pissed about going rather than kim jong min (they went it same time). next year will be though. im sure.

"Despite the amount of hate engendered by such incidents, the public tends to be rather forgiving once the service has been completed. Maybe they figure two years of active duty is punishment enough."
Its not that we are forgiving, its just because we forget them after two years. There are alot of actors you know....hee

But they do get to go home every weekend or holiday right? That's how it is in Singapore anyway. But so far, we don't have any crazy outrage like that regarding a male celebrity(not that ANY Singapore celebrities are known much anywhere. Maybe just Fann Wong or one or two more.. Hm), so this is definitely a new one.

I didnt know about Song Seung Heon, but I'm glad he's back on track, I've always loved him in movies :)

One of my Korean friends told me that he and his brother didn't served the mandatory army duty because his dad bribed some officials so they could get out of it although when asked by his fellow Koreans what he did in the army he would tell some lie about being assigned in driving the army tank or something like that.

"One of my Korean friends told me that he and his brother didn’t served the mandatory army duty because his dad bribed some officials so they could get out of it although when asked by his fellow Koreans what he did in the army he would tell some lie about being assigned in driving the army tank or something like that."
y did he tell u then? just wondering. it isn't not so honorable to tell ur buddy's secret, which i think is unfair btw.

doa2, he isn't my buddy, he was a passing tourist who we got acquainted and invited for a couple of dinner.
my guess would be that he was trying to impress my friend on how his family is so
wealthy that his dad managed to put out such a large amount of money for him and his brother to get out of military duty.
i don't go around telling secrets but all the people whom he went out knew about it.
i guess my point would be that other Korean men have dodge military service through other means (my other friend studied in a different country because he didn't want to serve his military duty).
we actually weren't impressed by what we told us since we had gotten the impression that there was no tolerance for corruption in Korea.

hi javabeans,
that's sad to know, i hope that, that would change and would not lead to the ruin of Korea.
i really have a great admiration for Korea and its people and will always have^^

I agree with the corruption in Korea, it is pretty bad...which is why I was surprised to see this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7130529.stm

O_o

what medical reason did bae young jun have for not serving in the army? I was very curious. He seems so healthy.

Please don't kill me for saying this but Jang Hyuk looked way better after military service then before he went in. I always thought he looked like a drowned rat before. He looked healthier when he came out. Just personal observation.

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