YEONCHEON, South Korea--Jin, the oldest member of K-pop supergroup BTS, was set to enter a frontline South Korean boot camp Tuesday to start his 18 months of mandatory military service, as fans gathered near the base to say goodbye to their star.
Six other younger BTS members are to join the military in coming years one after another, meaning that South Korea’s most successful music band must take a hiatus, likely for a few years.
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..Here is one of their hits:
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quite a few K drama/Kpop celebrities have served in the militay there LINK
...Americans used to have to serve a mandatory military service, but the fraud in the rich getting deferments and controversy over Vietnam made the government change to a voluntary army.
So outside of IceT and Gal Gadot, it's hard to find any modern pop star under the age of 70 who has done military service.
But in the past, that was not how it was; the most famous draftee way back when was... Elvis.
They even made a film about it (a loosely disguised retelling of Elvis' stint in the USArmy):
A few days ago, I noted that China has sent it's fleet into the Alaskan waters of the Aleutian islands within the US economic zone as a retaliation to the US insisting that the West Philippine sea lanes should not be blocked by illegal man made Chinese "islands" there.
And I pointed out how this is a new "salami" move (grab a little piece of somewhere and then stop but don't retreat when their aggression is resisted). And I tried to put it into the context of not just geopolitics, but the Chinese illegal overfishing in that area, sending a message if the Governor of Alaska grows some balls and tries to stop them, the Chinese fleet will "defend" their "innocent" poachers.
But as China is trying to bully Biden (and take over the mineral resources of Afghanistan, which are now in the hands of their ally, Pakistan's Taliban) there are a lot of other people China is targeting as the enemy:
StrategyPage has an essay that lists a lot of these issues, including Australian trade war.
keep that trade war in mind when you read about the Philippines, because they have punished the Philippines in the past by blocking agricultural exports to China.
The Chinese control the Philippine economy. Most are Filipinos (AKA Chinoy) but some have ties to China, and this is well known that they could become an internal source of destablization. Indeed, there were several pogroms against Chinese ethnics in the last century (e.g. Indonesia and VietNam) which is why the local Chinese community is worried they are being tainted with the idea they might be cooperating with the Chinese triads (mobs) behind the drug infestation here.
Ignore the propaganda about those poor dead drug pushers. Drugs harm families, and druggies kill people. The human rights types don't mourn our neighbors who got shot by drug addicts in home invasion robberies (3 in the last few years but only one since Duterte took over). And it is now safer to go out without worrying I'll be kidnapped.
But the peace may not last: the Manila Standard editorial notes that the reason the cops are finding huge stores of drugs is that the drug lords are preparing for next year's election, when they assume the new president will please the international "Human rights for thugs" groups. stop the killing of all those innocent death dealing drug pushers, and let them go back to work selling shabu (meth) etc to the masses.
China Triads (cartels) are behind a lot of the drugs destroying this part of the world. (Rappler article), and China is behind the narcotic overdose epidemic in the USA too, but hey don't bother to pressure China to arrest the guy in Wuhan who is behind that epidemic.
now add Afghanistan's heroin to the mix: this goes to Russia, the nearby countries, and Europe...
StrategyPage notes Russia and the nearby former USSR republics nearby are worried: not only does heroin destroy people's lives and families, but now with the Taliban in control, there is a worry that the drug smugglers will be joined by Islamic terrorists.
China's aggressive tactics in the West Philippine sea continue: the ultimate goal is to block the shipping routes to Japan Korea and Russia, and also to steal the fish and the petroleum resources there.
The possible problem with China blocking the shipping lanes has gotten some publicity, but you know, a lot of Asian internet traffic goes thru that area too . Wikipedia article and map:
I know about this, because in 2006 an earthquake cut the internet cable and we were offline for weeks, and then very slow. But it also affected India, who found their major link with the US was also affected.
The CCP believes it should decide what foreign customs and inventions are acceptable for its glorious New China and which are poisonous. This now includes K-Pop and its use of boy bands, full of cute young men that dance and sing in a way that creates fans world-wide. ,,,.
The CCP is believed to be using all these headline worthy assaults on foreign culture to distract Chinese from growing economic problems.
