The military service exemption program for artists and athletes has come under renewed scrutiny after the conduct of South Korean soccer players who won gold at the recent Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya drew criticism. The arts side invites more controversy than sports, where athletes must medal at the Olympics or the Asian Games, both held once every four years. Artists, by contrast, can qualify by placing in so-called international contests whose global standing has not been firmly established, or in domestic traditional-arts competitions with a relatively narrow field of rivals.
Above all, a growing number of people argue that the era of granting service benefits for raising the nation's profile has passed, now that South Korea's international standing has changed so dramatically. The art and sports personnel system was introduced in 1973, when South Korea was a developing country with little presence in the international community. A Korean winning an international competition or taking an Olympic medal was a national event, and the service benefit was understood as a reward for elevating the country's status.
More than 50 years later, the picture is very different. As South Korea's cultural and economic standing has risen and the pool of draftees has shrunk because of the low birth rate, calls to run the exemption program far more strictly have gained force. Online, the complaints are blunt: "Why should the state reward personal achievement with a military service benefit?" and "The 18 months of one's youth are precious not only to elite artists and athletes but to every young person."
More artists than athletes — and 85% won at contests held in Korea
The current arrangement for artists is not, strictly speaking, a legal exemption from military service. Those selected are assigned to the supplementary service category as art or sports personnel, undergo basic military training and then work in their own specialty for 34 months. During that period they must also complete 544 hours of community service, such as lessons or performances for vulnerable groups. Because they do not live on a military base as active-duty conscripts do and can continue performing and playing as before, however, the arrangement is widely seen as close to an outright exemption.
Over the past decade, more people from the arts than from sports have received the benefit. According to the Military Manpower Administration and other sources, a total of 350 people were assigned as art or sports personnel between 2016 and 2025. Of those, 220, or about 63%, were art personnel, while 130, or about 37%, were sports personnel. In other words, more than six of every 10 beneficiaries were artists.
That gap is tied to the number of qualifying competitions. For athletes, only two standards apply: an Olympic bronze medal or better, or an Asian Games gold. For artists, 35 competitions qualify — 30 international and five domestic.
The international list covers 25 music competitions and five in dance, including the International Chopin Piano Competition, the Queen Elisabeth Competition, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and the USA International Ballet Competition. Up to two entrants per competition, ranked by result, qualify as art personnel if they place second or higher.
The five domestic contests are the Onnara Gugak Competition, the Dong-A Gugak Competition, the Jeonju Daesaseup Nori National Contest, the Dong-A Dance Competition and the National Rookie Dance Competition. All are held annually. First-place winners at these contests are also granted the benefit, a measure intended to protect traditional arts fields where international competitions are scarce. People who meet certain training requirements in the field of national intangible heritage are also eligible.
The problem is that a large share of the artists receiving the benefit qualify not through prestigious international competitions abroad but through contests held in South Korea. Data submitted to Rep. Sung Il-jong of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, by the Military Manpower Administration show that 216 people were assigned as art personnel between 2017 and August this year. Of those, 104, or 48.1%, won at purely domestic contests. Counting international competitions staged in South Korea as well, the figure rises to 184, or 85.2% of the total.
Most of the contests held in South Korea take place every year, while a number of major international competitions abroad, such as the Chopin competition, are held only once every three to five years. Some competitions also name winners in separate categories by instrument, genre or age, allowing several people to qualify from a single event.
From second place to first — and a possible phase-out
The government is first reworking the system to reduce the number of beneficiaries. At the National Defense Committee's parliamentary audit on the 12th, the Military Manpower Administration said it would push to raise the threshold at international arts competitions from second place or higher to first place only. For domestic traditional-arts contests, it plans to merge subcategories and cut the number of people who can qualify per contest from the current two or three to one. It will also review the standing, fairness of judging and competitiveness of the events themselves and overhaul the list of recognized competitions.
The agency has steadily trimmed the list over the years, but with questions of fairness persisting, it has now decided to tighten the qualifying standard as well. Scrapping the system altogether is also being discussed openly.
Oversight after the benefit is granted is another sore point. Art and sports personnel must perform 544 hours of specialty-related community service over 34 months, but cases of inflated or falsified records have been uncovered. A 2018 joint review by the Military Manpower Administration and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism found that 31 of the 60 art and sports personnel examined had violated community service rules. Fourteen had inflated their hours, 11 had misreported travel time and six had submitted false records. Rules have since been tightened, but the effectiveness of the service requirement and the monitoring system remain matters for continued review.
How other countries handle it: deferral in Singapore, service alongside art in Israel
So how do other countries with conscription handle military service for artists and athletes?
Singapore in principle requires military service even of those who excel at international competitions in the arts or sports. In special cases, however, it allows enlistment to be deferred. Rather than waiving service, the approach pushes back the date of entry in consideration of a critical period in an artistic or athletic career.
A prominent example is Singaporean sailor Max Maeder. A world championship winner, he also took bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Singapore's Ministry of Defence, citing his competitive career, allowed him to defer enlistment until the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Once the deferral ends, he must still serve. Such long deferrals of three to six years are rare in Singapore: only four have been granted in the past 20 years.
Israel operates a system that lets accomplished musicians and dancers continue their artistic work while serving. Their duty hours are adjusted so they can perform and rehearse while remaining in uniform. Finland likewise puts musical talent to use in service by operating military bands staffed by conscripts.
Security conditions and service systems differ by country, making direct comparison difficult. Still, these countries offer something worth considering as South Korea reworks its own rules, in that they require military duty to be fulfilled while limiting career interruptions for artists.
Deferral until 50, or payments from income: what are the alternatives?
Lawmakers have also floated alternatives that would preserve the duty to serve while preventing careers from being cut short. The best known is a bill to amend the Military Service Act pushed in 2018 by Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the Democratic Party of Korea. It would impose actual military service on art and sports personnel instead of the exemption, while letting them choose when to serve, up to the age of 50.
The idea is to minimize career interruption by having them serve as instructors in the arts or sports within the military after their performing years are over. In fields such as ballet, where physical ability and career momentum in one's 20s are crucial, flexibility over the timing of enlistment could offer a way out. It would, however, raise questions about how to manage military service for people in middle age and whether the military could create enough instructor posts.
Another proposal seeks fairness through a financial contribution. A package of three bills introduced by Rep. Cha Gyu-keun of the Rebuilding Korea Party would have artists and athletes who received the benefit pay a portion of their income over a set period as a contribution, to be spent on welfare for enlisted soldiers. The aim is to return the economic gains from the benefit to society, though critics could argue it effectively lets high earners buy their way out of military duty. The wide income gap between famous performers and young dancers with unstable earnings would also have to be taken into account.
Phasing the system down and ultimately abolishing it is on the table as well. The argument that the benefit should be granted for raising the nation's profile lost much of its force once all members of BTS, globally popular as they are, completed their military service. With the pool of draftees shrinking because of the low birth rate, maintaining the existing system is becoming steadily harder.
The exemption program for artists has now entered a phase of radical surgery that goes beyond merely cutting the number of recognized contests or raising the award threshold, toward allowing only the narrowest of exceptions. Yet in fields where work done in one's youth is decisive, a career interrupted by military service can shape an artist's entire life. Wisdom must be gathered on how to devise an approach that respects the time of every young person fulfilling the duty to serve while keeping artists' career interruptions to a minimum.