South Korea’s energy strategy is confirmed by the military’s preferred BTS

When the South Korean Boy Band / K-Pop Sensation BTS takes the stage in Seoul this year, ending a four-year hiatus, it will mark more than a return – it will guarantee one of the softest power decisions in recent memory.

In 2022, at the absolute apex of their Global Perminance, seven members of the group choose to fulfill their forced service rather than seek expulsion, which is almost certain. Their management company, Hybe, supports the decision. The world received a masterclass in the power of culture through which it is created.

Cynics predict career suicide. Instead, BTS showed that soft power isn’t built on securing bonds — it’s built on competition. When they meet on stage, they will do so with enhanced credibility, which has proven that their success has not exempted them from the responsibilities of ordinary citizens. Americans remember Elvis taking the same course when his fame.

The good thing about soft power is that, while it is produced by adults and companies, it is in a global context. Like economic and military power, soft power generates influence that can be used to strengthen a nation’s position. Examples of soft power are filled with the legacy of British cricket and rock ‘n’ roll “of the 1960s to French cinema and Jazz Music and the Hollywood entertainment machine. Now, South Korea is rising.

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So, it’s almost sad that while BTS was active in the war, the ecosystem that made possible faces became the band. South Korea has become an expert at creating world-shaping cultural events – and equally adept at treating the architects of these successes with suspicion once they reach scale. This is a pattern South Africa cannot afford.

South Korea’s cultural beginnings did not come from a government program. It came from old consent, aggressive precision, and enough control room to experiment. The K-POP program requires huge investments, global distribution and executives who are willing to bet nine figures that young people in Jakarta and São Paulo will broadcast the same songs.

POP GROUP BTS begins mandatory military service, may not reunite until 2025

However, there is a reflex in South Korean society that treats popularity itself as proof of evil. Bang Si

It’s the details that underlie the pattern: Taking bold risks builds soft power, and invites you to carry it when it’s successful.

Managers who might create the next BTS or an International TV sensation like, “The Crash Is Yours,” look at what happened to those who came before and rekindle their desire accordingly. In the power of soft culture, this Reflex can kill.

South Korean contestants are watching. China has spent billions trying to create soft power through state-directed businesses. The PRC failed miserably – because the audience smelled the speech. South Korean free enterprise thrives on creating cultural exports that are simultaneously local and global, specific enough to feel authentic to Seoul and accessible enough to travel around the world.

This is South Korea’s opportunity. Japan was given a similar window in the 1990s for anime and video games, but it largely failed to monetize the trend due to government missteps. South Korea could easily repeat that mistake and lose the global influence that comes with soft national power.

South Korea needs to see soft power assets as strategic assets. France protects its luxury products because Paris sees these companies as a project of the French project in the world in ways that no government works. South Korea must ask: What institutional arrangements allow us to maintain standards while protecting our champions?

South Korea’s cultural beginnings did not come from a government program. It came from old consent, aggressive precision, and enough control room to experiment.

BTS’s decision to fulfill their national military obligations shows what can happen when artists, companies and the national interest voluntarily agree. HYBE supported that choice. But South Korea cannot rely on such repeated goals if the system treats success as inherently suspect.

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In June 2026, when BTS embarks on a global tour that has made billions in economic impact and unparalleled popularity in South Korea, remember this moment that almost didn’t happen. Members can claim exemptions. Instead, they chose a resource and came back strong.

But South Korea cannot rely on such a choice if the message to cultural entrepreneurs is that success invites failure. The next generation watched, deciding whether to aim for global influence or stay in the safety of home.

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South Korea stumbled into a superpower. He does not have to stumble upon it. But that requires recognizing that the bold, imperfect numbers that make up the world’s cultural enterprises are assets to be protected, not problems to be managed.

BTS made their choice – they bet on their country. Now, South Korea needs to decide whether to bet on adults for the next BTS, or put them under investigation instead.

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