government medals in 2018 obviously theres a looming military enlistment so they might have thought itd be good to do something individually before its too late and thats why i think military enlistment was the biggest factor said lee dong yeun a professor at korea national university of artsthere have been calls including from south koreas former culture minister for an exemption for bts because of their contribution to heightening south koreas international reputation but critics say that such an exemption would be bending the conscription rules to favour the privileged jin 29 is expected to enlist this year unless he receives an exemption military enlistment of members has always been a headache for hybe bts once accounted for 90 per cent of the labels profit currently the group makes up 50 per cent60 per cent of the labels profit according to a report from ebest investment securities the ebest report noted that the rapid stock plunge might have resulted from an anticipation that the activities as the whole group might be uncertain after being discharged from the military hybe has been attempting to diversify its portfolio by debuting new kpop bands making online games and rolling out korean language tutorialsas the most successful kpop band to date with hits like dynamite and butter bts has for years commanded tremendous attention on social media and with each new music release they recently performed several soldout shows in the united states became the first kpop act to get a grammy award nomination released an anthology album proof and channeled their global influence with an address at the united nations and a trip to the white house to campaign against hate crimes directed at asians once you achieve success like bts achieved success then it means theres a constant expectation to continue doing something that is connected to what youve already done where youve already been in the most recent releases that bts has brought out also we can see how they continually reflect back on where they have been said cedarbough saeji professor of korean and east asian studies at pusan national university she said tuesdays announcement signaled the bands intention to figure out where they are going for themselves without interference from other people and being able to choose their own path forward as artistslast weeks announcement also leaves in doubt the groups social justice efforts which have included vocal support for the black lives matter movement and antiviolence campaigns bts legions of fans have embraced the causes matching a usd 1 million donation to black lives matter after george floyds death but the group has faced mushrooming questions about why it isnt as vocal about discrimination in their own country a leading south korean newspaper recently published a column in which the author mused why south korea despite having bts the ambassador of antidiscrimination and human rights has struggled to enact an antidiscrimination law for 15 years its an irony the writer said south