Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Yoo Ah In, who recently went through a fifth medical examination for mandatory military service, was informed that he would be exempted from said service due to previous injuries as well as a bone tumor.
The actor was deemed unfit for service as an active duty soldier primarily because of his bone tumor, despite the fact that the actor has frequently expressed his desire to serve as an active duty soldier. While the actor had been receiving treatment in order to maintain a tolerable amount of pain in his daily life, results from his re-examination deemed him unsuitable for life as an active duty soldier. In addition to his shoulder injury and bone tumor, it was reported that Yoo Ah In also severely fractured his left collarbone last year. His collarbone injury did not come to light until recently because Yoo Ah In received painkilling medication and participated in a hand-printing event at a film festival the day after the accident that caused the injury. His agency, United Artist Agency (UAA), released an official statement on June 27 and said, “Due to pre-existing medical conditions, actor Yoo Ah In has been deemed unfit for military service by the Military Manpower Administration and received a final verdict that exempts him from mandatory military service.” The statement continued, “As an agency, we will actively do our best to help our actor receive medical treatment and carefully monitor and maintain his health.”
Logically, as I said about this issue before, the conclusion of this sounds reasonable enough given that he would be essentially useless as a soldier.
Honestly though, this just seems like a bad idea for everybody, does it not? Basically, his shoulder is busted and his tumor could randomly fell him at any moment. In that scenario, is he not actually a risk? Like I wouldn’t want his ass next to me should shit actually go down, because I can’t see how he’d be all the effective to begin with.
However, it’s not that simple, as the public has understandably become cynical about celebrities doing military service to the point where no matter the context, unless one serves active duty and does it correctly, they are generally met with scorn. In this case, however, I think that might be an unrealistic expectation and a lot of the backlash that’s going to come is gonna be projecting bitterness.
Of course, that brings us to what it’s really about, which is just that people want him to suffer. Yoo Ah In even refers to this in his statement in a more roundabout way, and I have a hard time believing anybody (including the damn military, quite obviously by the rejections) thinks he can be a worthwhile soldier. So really this is just about wanting to see him lose two years of his life like everybody else and suffer like the collective. I understand that expectation of fairness and the public’s cynicism about celebrities getting out of service, but nevertheless, it seems irrational to make this out to be any fault of Yoo Ah In himself regardless of how this eventually resolves.
So it’s gonna be a mess for him and it’ll probably be wise if he lays low for a while. I get why people will react in a certain way, but looking at this case objectively, it doesn’t seem like Yoo Ah In really deserves the scorn. Doesn’t exactly seem like an MC Mong case.
