[Anchor]
Amid continuing controversy surrounding the military service exemption system, SBS conducted a comprehensive analysis of 173 individuals in the fields of sports and the arts who have received exemptions since 2022 to examine who actually benefits from the program. Among the 80 sports personnel, more than half were national team football and baseball players who won gold medals at the Asian Games, revealing a heavy bias toward specific events and sports.
Reporter Go Jeong-hyeon reports exclusively.
[Reporter]
According to data from the Military Manpower Administration obtained by SBS, 80 national team athletes were enlisted as sports personnel under military service exemptions between 2022 and August of this year.
Fifteen were Olympic medalists, while 65 were Asian Games gold medalists, accounting for 81 percent of the total.
This means the benefits were concentrated on the Asian Games, where competition is relatively less intense.
Disparities among sports were also significant.
Out of the 80 athletes, 23 were football players and 19 were baseball players, making up more than half.
In particular, all of them received the exemption through the Asian Games.
This year's Asian Games showed a similar pattern.
[Cho Gye-won / Member of the National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee (Democratic Party of Korea): "A total of 43 people received benefits this time, and 36 of them were in football and baseball. Winning a world championship is much harder and more challenging than winning the Asian Games, yet world championship winners receive no benefits at all."]
For arts personnel receiving military exemptions, the number of eligible competitions has decreased, but some domestic competitions are still recognized, fueling ongoing debate that this runs counter to the system's intended purpose of "enhancing national prestige."
Over the past five years, out of 93 arts personnel who received exemptions, 49 were first-place winners in domestic competitions, while 44 were first- or second-place winners in international competitions.
Several bills to amend the Military Service Act have been introduced in the National Assembly.
A bill proposed by Representative Joo Ho-young aims to remove the Asian Games from eligible exemptions and grant special status to artists and athletes with extraordinary achievements only through a recommendation by the National Assembly and approval by the State Council.
A bill proposed by Representative Cha Gyu-geun calls for arts and sports personnel to pay contributions if their monthly earnings exceed 5 million won.
The controversy surrounding military exemptions for arts and sports personnel has persisted for more than a decade.
[SBS Nightline (October 2014): "A total of 59 athletes are expected to receive military exemptions at this Asian Games. With many professional players included, voices calling for reform of this system are growing in the political sphere..."]
However, past reform efforts have repeatedly fizzled out due to backlash from the arts and sports communities, prompting growing calls that this time must be different.
(Video by Oh Young-chun and Kim Yong-woo | Video edited by Park Seon-soo | Graphics by Kim Ye-ji)
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