On June 7, Around Us Entertainment broke sad news to fans, they revealed that Highlight’s Yoon Doo Joon will be not be able to promote overseas due to South Korea’s new military regulations.
Their statement and understanding of the law was not clear and was wrong according to The Military Manpower Association. The association ended up releasing an official statement that better explained the situation but also cast light on an increasing issue that’ll face idols and celebrities.
The Military Manpower Association stated,
“It is not true that Yoon Doojoon is not eligible for a short-term overseas travel permit due to the reformed regulations of overseas travel permission regulations.
The reformed overseas travel permit regulations are complementary to the existing regulations because the short-term overseas travel permits were highly abused by means of delayed military service. Individuals who are between the ages of 25 to 27 (28 if the individual is enrolled in a doctoral program, attending school, or has delayed enlistment) are eligible for a short-term overseas travel permit.
If there is an unavoidable reason such as” treatment of disease “or” family memorial service “and it is recognized that there is no obstacle to imposition of military service, it is possible to obtain a travel permit after 28 years of age.”
Since Yoon Doojoon was born in 1989 and is considered 29 years old, he is not eligible for the overseas travel permit.
In simple language it means that male idols and celebrities who are between 25 to 30 will have more difficult time travelling overseas, just like Yoon Doo Joon, they will face the same issue.
The law came into effect back on May 29, any South Korean male over 25 years of age and haven’t served military yet must receive permission from the Military Manpower Administration to travel outside of Korea.
This means that for groups such as EXO, SHINee, BTS, WINNER, BTOB, Block B, B.A.P, INFINITE, FTISLAND, and B1A4 this will present a problem. Promotions, tours, fan meetings and much more will be highly affected by the new rules.
Fans and especially EXO-Ls were panicking since EXO has members above 25 years old who haven’t yet enlisted in the military, EXO is now touring outside Korea which means that it might be more difficult for the 8 members to continue touring in the future together.
With these new regulations, it is expected that a lot more idols between the ages of 25 to 30 will be enlisting soon, as the regulations limit their ability to travel around which is a huge part of Korean celebrity lives especially idols who spend much of their time touring.
Source: (A)
