Promotion of Separate Management for High-Profile Creators with Medical Conditions
Military Manpower Administration "Reviewing Criteria for Management Targets Such as Subscriber Count"
The Military Manpower Administration plans to include well-known YouTubers with high recognition in the list for managing military service obligations. This is to ensure proper fulfillment of military duties, similar to children of high-ranking public officials and celebrities.
On the 2nd, SBS reported that the Military Manpower Administration is concretizing plans to include creators such as highly recognized YouTubers in the ‘separate military record management’ category.
The Military Manpower Administration classifies lists of individuals whose military service fulfillment is a matter of public interest, such as celebrities and children of high-ranking public officials, as separate military record management targets for tracking and monitoring.
The ‘separate military record management system’ is a system that manages the military service process separately for public officials, high-income earners and their children, athletes, and entertainers who are subjects of social interest, to foster a fair military service culture. It began on June 1, 2016, by separately managing the military records of public officials of grade 1 or higher and their children.
Since then, the scope of separate military record management targets under this system expanded to include public officials of grade 4 or higher, high-income earners and their children, athletes, and entertainers, resulting in the current form as of September 2017.
The Military Manpower Administration is reportedly considering ways to identify individuals registered as one-person media creators with the National Tax Service or to obtain lists from platform operators such as AfreecaTV. It is also expected to receive lists from agencies like Sandbox, which manage YouTubers and BJs.
The Military Manpower Administration estimates that about 800 people among them will be subject to management. However, there are difficulties as it is not easy to receive personal information from foreign companies like YouTube, and it is even harder to identify those active on overseas platforms. The Military Manpower Administration will review specific methods and management criteria such as income and subscriber numbers to secure the list.
Ki Dong-min, a Democratic Party member of the National Assembly’s Defense Committee, said, “Creators such as one-person YouTubers have enormous social influence. Since they are in a legal blind spot, it is necessary to manage their military records separately.”
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