Two Korean Assemblymen Feel Rain Should Be Forced To Re-Enlist Like Psy Was

K-pop singer Rain can't seem to shake the controversy relating to his two-year mandatory enlistment in the South Korean army.

Rain completed his military service on July 10, after a military court found him innocent of all charges relating to a PR officer's scandal that resulted in eight recruits receiving disciplinary action.

But two politicians in the South Korean Assembly feel he should be forced to enlist again like when international superstar Psy was forced to serve another 20 months after being found dodging his military duties through a celebrity loophole in 2007.

The demands for Rain to re-enlist stem from allegations that arose after Rain was honorably discharged, according to the website allkpop, when Kim Kwang Jin, chair of the Democratic Party's National Defense Committee charged that the star (along with nine other recruits) never filled out the proper paperwork to become part of the celebrity recruit program.

"Our country has compulsory military service, and it must be equal to all the citizens," one assemblyman said.

"But Rain became a celebrity recruit without even having to submit documents just because he is famous. Usually, celebrity recruits have an acceptance rate of three-to-one or four-to-one after all the documents are submitted, but it's obvious that he received special treatment."

"Currently, there are talks about Rain's re-enlistment, but the exact point of the problem brought up was that 10 celebrity recruits were accepted even without proper documentation. Since that is a problem, they should re-enlist," another assemblyman added.

"It's also true that one of the 10 recruits are Rain, but the problem was not just for Rain. Also, the investigation was not limited to those related to the massage parlor incident, but to the entire celebrity recruit."

Yet Kim stopped short of condemning the 10 soldiers who were admitted into the celebrity recruit PR agent program known as the Promotional Support Brigade without paperwork.

The National Defense Committee chair believes this was an administrative error that should be dealt with internally.

"Looking in detail of the inspection from the Ministry of Defense showed that there were bigger problems than those initially announced," Kim said.

"This problem shouldn't be solved by punishing the celebrity recruits or the employees, but by making the director of the Defense Media Agency and the administration of the Ministry of Defense take responsibility."

All eligible males between the ages of 18 and 35 must enroll for roughly two years of army service in South Korea (the length of mandatory enrollment changes by several months depending on which branch of the military that they serve in).

Before the elimination of the Promotional Support Brigade last month, pop stars wishing to enroll in the Ministry of Defense program were asked to submit their album sales figures and a letter of recommendation within three months of their enlistment.

The program was eliminated after the news program "Scene 21" behaving filmed celebrity recruits from the program behaving illegally after an army-sanctioned concert.

The footage prompted public charges of favoritism for famous soldiers.

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Rain
South Korean Army
PR Officer Scandal
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