Chapter 177: Military Service in Korea
Lee Jun-hee and Shen Eun-jin started a war here, and soon someone joined in, and for a while, the snow was flying at the scene of snow removal, and even the villagers in Xiabeili were infected by these young people.
After the laughter, everyone continued to work, of course, it was a fantasy to expect the villagers and the NRG family to complete the snow removal work, and soon the troops stationed in the local area rushed to help.
Among these soldiers who came, Li Junxi also unexpectedly found that there were successors he had trained two months before leaving the training camp, the so-called successors, that is, the juniors in the army who took over his work.
Those descendants didn't expect to meet Li Junxi here, although Li Junxi has been discharged from the army for a long time, but these soldiers still habitually stand in line when they see Li Junxi.
"Loyalty!"
Li Junxi was stunned for a moment, and returned a military salute with a smile: "Loyalty!" β
Lee Jun-hee is not a predator-blooded king, but in the training camp to which he belongs, it is not too much to say that he is a legend, just during the recruit training period, Lee Jun-hee broke many records that the South Korean army has held for a long time, and became the first soldier in the training camp to become an instructor after the completion of recruit training.
You must know that South Korea is a country with a very strict hierarchy, in society, and even in the military, and this concept has even developed into "iron discipline".
Some commanders believe that it is the duty of a soldier to "obey orders from above" and that it has become an unwritten "rule" in the South Korean military camp for recruits to obey veterans.
In addition, due to the closed environment and complicated military affairs, the veterans are under a lot of pressure, so some veterans take out their anger on the recruits to vent their frustration.
It's just that Li Junxi doesn't have such a special hobby, although he treats recruits very harshly, but he won't find fault with them, so the rookies who have spent the recruit training period under him. Still very happy.
Seeing that Li Junxi can now face these soldiers so easily, Li Chengzhen, Qian Mingxun, who have not yet served, Lu Yumin's heart is only left with envy, Wen Chengxun has no such worry, he has been exempted from military service because he donated his father liver before.
In the Korean entertainment industry, military service is a problem for every male artist, why did Kim Jong Kook put down his burden and took the initiative to invite Lee Jun-hee to sing. It's not just to boost popularity as much as possible, and to create some convenient conditions for the comeback after two years.
Service means a two-year blank period, in the Korean entertainment industry, which is updated very frequently, two years will not appear in the public eye, but I am afraid that no matter how popular it is, it may be forgotten by people.
Although it can't be said in words, but military service. It's definitely something that every Korean male artist hates.
According to the South Korean Constitution, military service is the duty of every male citizen, and the military service system established by the Ministry of National Defense of South Korea stipulates that all men will automatically enter the military service system on January 1 of the year in which they reach the age of 18. When they reach the age of 19, they undergo a medical examination from the Military Affairs Agency and are divided into seven grades on the spot according to their physical condition.
If you are recognized as a Class 1 to 3 candidate, you are known as a qualified candidate for active duty. If it is recognized as level 4, it means that it does not meet the standard of active duty soldiers, and will be sent to be a "public welfare service officer". This is also a military service setting with Korean characteristics, which can be understood as working in an organization or administrative unit in charge of public welfare affairs.
Some public welfare service dignitaries can go to work and go home from work, and do not have to live in collective dormitories, and in order to receive such "benefits", their physical conditions must not meet the standards for being a soldier.
If there are parents and brothers in the family who have died in the war, they will also receive such preferential treatment, and many Korean stars have served in this way.
As for the candidates included in the 5th level, they can not be active soldiers, they will be assigned to the second national service, "when there is an incident", only those who have obtained foreign nationality, transgenders, orphans, some sentenced, and mixed-race children can be rated at this level, Lee Jun-hee is a Chinese-Korean mixed-race, but he has to serve as a normal person, that is because the so-called mixed-race children need obvious physical characteristics, obviously, Chinese and Koreans in terms of appearance, there is not much difference.
People who can be selected as level 6 are either physically disabled or mentally ill, or they are North Korean defectors, that is, refugees from North Korea, and those who fall under this level do not even have to serve second national service, in fact, there have been cases where a certain celebrity "suddenly" suffers from mental illness.
What if those who were hospitalized for illness during the conscription could not be present? The Military Affairs Agency will classify them as Level 7 and wait for a medical examination when they are cured.
In short, under the complex military service system, every Korean man can't hide, and South Koreans can be regarded as finding loopholes in regulations in order to evade military service, such as the military affairs agency's regulations that more than one-third of people with tattoos all over their bodies are not allowed to enter the army, so some young people go to tattoos in order to evade military service.
But wait, the rules also say that if you don't have a tattoo at the first medical checkup, but only at the second medical checkup, the person with the tattoo has two options: either get the tattoo off or be prosecuted for "deliberately tattooing to evade military service."
Although South Korea's military service system is the most stringent in the world, its thoughtfulness lies in the fact that there are no loopholes to exploit.
The provisions of the military service statute provide that if there are two children in the family and there are parents to support, they are exempt from military service. The age of military service is between 20 and 30 years old, that is, if a man is married in his early 20s, and then quickly gives birth to two children in succession, then it is logical not to serve in the military.
When there are some strange methods, the more common is to make trouble during the physical examination, at least it is possible to reduce the service level.
In addition, there are some simple methods, such as faking one's own urine, pretending to have kidney disease, or swallowing a gold leaf wrapped in chewing gum before taking an X-ray, and the resulting piece has some shadow holes in the stomach, so that the doctor can mistakenly diagnose a stomach disease such as a perforated stomach ulcer, and can also be exempted from military service.
Of course, this kind of deception is very easy to detect, and the South Korean media has kicked out a number of artists who use fake urine to prove that they have kidney disease in order to evade military service.
climbed to the pinnacle of the film and television industry with the TV series "Blue Life and Death Love", and Song Seung-heon, the "Korean Little Dawn" who is popular all over Asian countries, had to face the reality after the urine fraud, admitted a qiΔ to the Korean media, and publicly apologized to the fans who supported him.
What's more, they "pretend to be ghosts" to deceive medical examination officials and put on feminine clothing. Grease and powder on the face, deliberately sissy in speech and movements, while being considered a mental illness successfully evaded military service.
In fact, there are not many Korean men who can completely ignore this issue. Because according to Korean law, young people of school age are required to perform military service, but they can be exempted from military service if they have received important honors in international competitions. This requires a super high IQ, such as Lee Chang-ho, a South Korean Go player who participated in a world-class Go tournament, which set a precedent for exemption from military service.
Or you can try to serve only "mini" military service, after the South Korean football team reached the round of 16 of the 2002 World Cup. The ecstatic South Korean authorities are considering giving their international players a 26-month bonus for exempting themselves from compulsory service.
Perhaps inspired by the huge incentive from the exemption from military service, the South Korean international team has become more and more courageous and strode into the semi-finals, and the authorities immediately decided to give these national heroes-like national players a discount, all of whom only need to serve in the military for one month.
The authorities' reasoning is to reward these meritorious internationals and to consider allowing them to continue to develop their skills without interruption, so they have taken positive and affirmative measures.
From this point of view, exemption from military service can be regarded as a very high treatment in South Korea, and in a certain way, it is also in line with South Korea's strategy of "cultural statehood". It is also a perennial reality that South Korea cannot change, and on the Korean Peninsula, which occasionally clashes with guns, South Korea maintains an army of more than 600,000 people with a male population of 24 million. It can't help but be strict, and it has to be considerate.
As the saying goes, there are policies and countermeasures, among the people who have evaded military service. The easiest and most conspicuous is the star of show business.
Because for an acting star, two years is enough time to bury his career. Therefore, both they and the brokerage company will find ways to "avoid trouble".
Actor Bae Yongjun was exempted from military service due to low eyesight, singer Seo Tae-zhi was exempted from military service because of stomach problems, and in 2001, Andy, one of the members of the myth, was banned from studying abroad due to military service, and finally Andy was troubled and suspected of committing suicide, and the Korean dance god Yoo Seung-jun also chose the right of abode in the United States and did not go to military service, resulting in an uproar from the outside world, and the South Korean government permanently banned him from entering the country.
One of the practical reasons why the phenomenon of military evasion is so common in South Korea is that the phenomenon of military abuse within the South Korean army is very strict, and in the barracks, it is very common for veterans to insult and violate human rights, such as insulting, slapping, and stripping off their clothes.
According to the figures from 1980 to 1995, nearly 9,000 South Korean soldiers committed suicide or were violently killed during their service, that is, about 600 people died in a year of military abuse alone, which is equivalent to a natural attrition of one regiment every three years in the absence of war.
Therefore, for Korean male artists, serving not only means a two-year blank period, but also means being thrown into a devil's hole, and no one knows how they will be treated in the army, after all, most Korean male stars are still very handsome.
Li Junxi also suffered the same problem when he was in the boot camp, but he was a vegetarian from time to time, and he found a place where no one was, and for those guys who planned to highlight the superiority of veterans in front of him, a meal of old punches would make the world extremely quiet in an instant.
But after all, not every male artist has the courage of Lee Jun-hee to challenge the traditions of the South Korean army, so most male artists are still afraid of service.
But the problem is that if you don't want to go, you have to go, last year, a large number of popular stars in South Korea enlisted in the army, such as Won Bin, Song Seung-heon, Jang Hyuk, Han Jae-seok, etc., which almost caused a shortage of male stars on the screen.
But at the same time, the shortage of male stars has prompted many male singers to start challenging performances, which has also given new artists such as Hyun Bin the opportunity to be promoted to stars.
In order to fight against military service, South Korean male stars, with the assistance of their brokerage companies, constantly applied to the court for an extension of enlistment, but in fact, they only extended their acting life as much as possible.
In the highly competitive entertainment industry, the complete cessation of performing arts activities during the artist's two-year service is likely to be a "fatal" blow, and it will also be an irreparable loss to the brokerage company.
In the second half of last year, a scandal broke out in the Korean entertainment industry that male stars cheated to evade military service, which caused a great sensation because the protagonists were the three stars of Song Seung-heon, Jang Hyuk and Han Jae-suk, who were popular at the time.
After a massive investigation that lasted more than two months, the South Korean Military Service Agency finally announced that the three must be immediately enlisted in November of that year.
At the same time, many other male stars who have reached the service age are also required to report on time, so for a period of time from the end of 2004 to the first half of 2005. A large number of male stars began to enlist in the army, such as Won Bin, Su Ji-sub, Ji Sung, Lee Ting-jin, etc., these male stars are at the peak of their careers, and they are the leaders of major TV stations in South Korea.
Every wave of enlistment will cause changes in the Korean entertainment industry, and without the familiar faces of big names, the company must rely on cultivating new people to seize the market.
So after last year's big shock, a group of new faces were able to become new favorites in film and television, and the hot ratings of "Full House Romance" in South Korea allowed Rain to successfully transform from a singer to an all-round artist. The "My Name is Kim Sam-soon", which is currently being broadcast, sent Hyun Bin to the throne of the "King of Popularity".
Now Lee Sung-jin, Cheon Myung-hoon, and Lu Yumin are all facing the upcoming military service, and for them, they really can't help but worry, NRG finally came back to life and re-established itself at the top of the Korean music industry, and it is the members who make persistent efforts to consolidate their popularity. When the career is pushed to a new peak, if they go to serve at this time, no one dares to guarantee that when they come back, the NRG will still be the current NRG.
So. Lee Jun-hee, who has already served in the military, is the object of envy of many people in the entertainment industry, and the previous time he was filming "X-Man". TVXQ's captain Yu Lu Yunhao once said: "I envy the creative talent and singing strength of Lee Junxi's predecessors very much, but the most envious thing is that Lee Junxi's predecessors have completed their service!" β
"Jun-hee is so good! Don't even worry about the service, I'm just looking at the GIs now. will feel scared! Lu Yumin looked at Li Junxi, who had already mingled with the soldiers who came to support snow removal, with a look of envy.
Li Chengzhen cheered up, now he needs to worry about the most service problem, in fact, he is the oldest captain in the NRG group, he was born in 1977, according to the South Korean algorithm, he is already 29 years old, and he has made excuses to shirk several times before, if the South Korean Military Service Agency requires him to serve again, I am afraid that he will not be able to escape anymore.
"Yu Min! This kind of thing is unenviable! We still work hard to do things now, and what the future holds, we can only talk about it then! β
No one can fight against South Korea's military service system, and Lee Sung-jin didn't think of a way to escape, but in the end he gave up, because once it was exposed, when the time came, not only would he be ruined, but the NRG group would also face huge public opinion pressure.
As the captain of the NRG, Li Chengzhen knows very well how difficult it is for the NRG to get back on his feet, and as the captain, Li Chengzhen will never allow it, and the one that the NRG has so hard to get now will be lost again.
patting Lu Yumin on the shoulder, Li Chengzhen took a shovel and continued to join the snow removal army.
With the support of the soldiers, the snow removal work was also carried out very quickly, and by noon, the snow had almost been cleared, and looking at the cleaned vegetable greenhouse, not only the villagers in Beili, but also the NRG family were relieved.
At this time, the villagers who had prepared it for a long time also took out lunch and invited the soldiers to eat it together, and hundreds of people sat on the ground in a greenhouse used to cultivate mushrooms.
After lunch, the GIs then went to the next snow-stricken village, which was a task, and even though the GIs were tired, they were not in a position to complain, all they could do was accept it.
After sending off the soldiers, Lee Sung-jin suddenly said to Lee Jun-hee with emotion: "Jun-hee! We're going to pick up the pace too! Now is not the time to be lazy! β
Li Junxi didn't understand what Li Chengzhen meant at first, but when he found that Li Chengzhen's eyes had been staring at those soldiers who were far away, he suddenly understood: "Brother! Don't worry! β
Li Chengzhen smiled, but there was a little bitterness in his smile, just imagine, after so many years of struggle and support, he finally saw the hope of reaching the top, but he had to face a two-year blank period, if there was no loss in his heart, then what kind of Cheng DΓΉ would Li Chengzhen's psychological element be strong!
"Jun-hee! Maybe next year I'll be like those soldiers, and I don't know when I will be ordered to go to a remote village to take part in a voluntary snow removal mission. β
Lee Jun-hee doesn't know how to comfort Lee Sung-jin, after all, in South Korea, any able-bodied man basically can't bypass the hurdle of military service, and he can now take care of his acting career with peace of mind, but what about the other members?
In addition to Wen Chengxun, Li Chengzhen, Qian Mingxun, and Lu Yumin will either enter the barracks this year or next year.
The only thing Lee Jun-hee can do now is to push NRG to the ideal height when they debuted as much as possible before they break up briefly. (To be continued......)