hankyoreh

BTS. (Yonhap)

A lawmaker with South Korea’s ruling party has called on the Defense Ministry to allow global megastars BTS to perform at a K-pop concert being put on for the ongoing World Scout Jamboree being held in the country.

With some calling the jamboree an “international embarrassment” for Korea amid early departures from the camp by a few countries’ delegations due to a lack of preparations and a first-of-its-kind relocation of scouts from the base camp, this call appears to be an attempt to placate anger from jamboree participants with BTS.

Sung Il-jong, a lawmaker with the ruling party, posted the appeal on his Facebook page on Tuesday.

“I hope that the Ministry of National Defense takes all necessary measures to allow all of BTS, including presently enlisted members, to take part in the K-pop concert that will take place in Seoul on Aug. 11 so that we may heighten the national prestige of the Republic of Korea,” he wrote.

Sung expressed hope that the ministry would “act preemptively so that [jamboree participants] may take away good memories of Korea.”

Currently, BTS members Jin and J-Hope are performing their mandatory military service, with Suga slated to enlist soon as well.

Calling the World Scout Jamboree held in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, “an event that damaged the national prestige due to a lack of preparation and mismanagement,” Sung said that there had been a lack of accountability from both North Jeolla Province, which oversaw the execution of the massive scout gathering, and the central government, which he said should be providing support for it.

“We must fill out the lacking schedules our dear guests experienced in Saemangeum with the power of Korean culture,” the lawmaker wrote.

Some have criticized this as an attempt to pull BTS members out of their military service to redeem Korea from controversy over the bungled jamboree.

Originally slated to take place on Aug. 6 at a specially prepared outdoor stage in Saemangeum, the K-pop concert was rescheduled once already to Aug. 11 at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium over concerns including heat-related health hazards.

Then, when forecasts began to show the Saemangeum area to be in the path of the incoming Typhoon Khanun, a decision was made to withdraw all participants from the Saemangeum campsite and relocate them to Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area. This prompted a review of whether to arrange for the concert venue to be switched to Seoul World Cup Stadium.

On Sunday, Culture and Tourism Minister Park Bo-gyoon said that “nothing has yet been decided” when it came to a possible appearance by BTS at the concert. As of now, the girl group NewJeans has been confirmed to be on the lineup.

Responding to Sung’s call for support for BTS to perform and questions from reporters on this possibility, an official with the Ministry of National Defense stated, “On that issue, I believe it’s something to be discussed by the relevant ministries and the artists’ agency.”

When a reporter remarked that there has been backlash from BTS fans who claimed the group was being used to patch over sore feelings about the jamboree, Kim Gi-hyeon, the leader of the People Power Party, said that this idea represented “an area in which Rep. Sung Il-jong has a particular interest,” and said that it “hadn’t been discussed at a party level.”

Kim went on to express gratitude for “all Koreans taking the lead and working together to ensure the jamboree ends on a positive note.”

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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