Judy here. To my limited knowledge S Korea and Israel are two of the few countries with mandatory military service. In the case of Israel it is for 32 months for all citizens - both male and female - when they are 18 years old. Israel exempts the ultra-orthodox and Arab citizens. This ultra-orthodox exception causes some resentment and disagreement amongst Israelis. Arab Israelis can volunteer for service but it is not required of them.
In contrast, all S Korean men are required to serve for 1.5-2 years any time prior to their 31st birthday or so. Why does a Gmama even know this little tidbit? Because many of the Kdrama actors (and Kpop stars) will delay enlisting until their career has started and they've achieved some success. For example, Kang Tae-oh who starred in Extraordinary Attorney Woo joined the military at age 29... almost immediately after filming Woo was completed. That makes me question who will be featured in Season 2 of this Kdrama...will they wait for Kang's release from the military?
Another example of recent enlistments are three members of the Kpop group BTS which has effectively forced the remaining band members to branch out into individual careers.
Eventually all members of this group will serve and they expect to reunite sometime in 2025.
The excellent Kdrama DP focuses on problems within the Korean military and is worth watching. The 2nd season of this show, featuring the terrific Jung Hae-in has just begin its run and I'm looking forward to watching. Honestly, I do not know how Koreans feel about mandatory service. Since it's their 'normal' I suspect they accept it. But, from my point of view the disruptions in their lives could be significant; especially if they delay enlistment till their late 20's.
One thing I like about the Korean method is the fact that all males are required to enlist. (I'd actually like males and females to serve...but that's just me.) Universal enlistment means you get a much more democratic representation of Korean society serving instead of the narrow slice of Americans who chose military service.
A fascinating fact that I only discovered when starting to look into this topic a few years ago is that North & South Korea are still technically at war. There was a truce signed in 1953 but never a peace treaty.
Joonchild is absolutely correct on this topic. I recently read that if South Korean EGamers won gold medals at recent Asia Games they would be exempt from military service. Really? Who came up with that rule?! Some yahoo that plays online games in his apartment have the same importance as Megastars like BTS? I thought it was ridiculous.
Excellent reporting! It gave me something that I didn't know much about to think on.
Very interesting.
I sincerely hope that DP doesn't reflect the current state of the military! I believe the 1st season at least is based on real-life scandals of a decade or so ago. I'm a huge fan of BTS & enlistment was a very hot button topic for at least the last five years, as many citizens & fans advocated for their exemption from service. Military service in S. Korea isn't totally egalitarian, as exemptions for service are provided to artists and athletes who accrue prestige to the country--i.e. Olympic medal winners, gold medal winners in the Asia games, medalists in specific music competitions. The argument for BTS was as 3-time speakers at the UN, designated ambassadors for their country, their monetary…