BTS member Suga / Korea Times file

An incident involving BTS member Suga driving an electric scooter under the influence of alcohol has ignited a debate over whether social service workers — who serve as an alternative to mandatory military service — should receive more lenient treatment compared to those undergoing compulsory military service, according to military officials and citizens, Thursday.

This debate comes in response to the Military Manpower Administration's (MMA) announcement on Thursday that no additional punishment would be imposed by military authorities, as the drunk driving incident occurred outside of work hours.

"The social service worker in question will be punished according to relevant laws, including the Road Traffic Act, as he was caught by the police driving under the influence of alcohol after working hours," the MMA stated.

An MMA official explained that regulations mandating decent behavior for social service workers apply only during work hours. Since Suga's incident occurred outside of working hours, it does not breach these regulations. As a result, aside from any legal penalties stemming from the police investigation, there will be no additional disciplinary actions or sanctions from the MMA.

"The MMA, along with the agencies overseeing social service workers, will strengthen education to ensure compliance with regulations during their service period, while rigorously managing and supervising them," the military authority added.

Issue of fairness

The MMA's lenient stance on the issue has drawn significant criticism, raising concerns about fairness between social service workers and active-duty soldiers. Unlike social service workers, active-duty soldiers who commit crimes while on leave or after working hours are subject to military law and are tried in military courts.

Consequently, many former active-duty soldiers argue that they not only serve under harsher conditions, but they also face greater disadvantages when it comes to legal consequences for actions taken during their leave or outside of work hours.

"Active-duty soldiers are punished for accidents outside working hours. This is unfair," read a comment on a Korean internal portal site on Thursday.

This sentiment is echoed in numerous other comments.

"It's unreasonable that social service workers, who are fulfilling a role in place of military service, aren't penalized for incidents after work hours," another comment noted.

"If an active-duty soldier did this, wouldn't they end up in the military detention barracks? Why are soldiers on leave punished so strictly?" asked a netizen.

"This country seems obsessed with further lowering the morale of active-duty soldiers," another commenter expressed.

Against this backdrop, a public online petition has been submitted requesting that the MMA impose a stricter penalty on Suga, such as a five-day extension of his service. The petition was filed on "e-People," an online platform operated by the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission.

BigHit Music apologizes twice

Since September last year, Suga has been fulfilling his mandatory military service as a social service worker in Seoul. He was assigned as a social service worker due to a shoulder injury he sustained in 2020. He is expected to complete his service in June 2025.

The BTS member was found by the police on a street in the affluent Hannam district late Tuesday night after falling off his electric scooter. When police officers nearby tried to assist him, they detected the smell of alcohol. A breathalyzer test showed that his blood alcohol concentration was 0.08% or higher, a level that warrants license revocation.

BigHit Music, the music agency of BTS, issued a follow-up apology on Thursday, stating: "We apologize for hastily releasing a statement without thoroughly examining various circumstances, which caused confusion."

When Suga's DUI allegation was first brought up in the media on Wednesday, the agency said Suga used an electric kickboard during the incident. Yet, police later confirmed that the vehicle was an electric scooter rather than a kickboard. This raised suspicions that the music company tried to downplay the incident.

"There was no intention to downplay the issue, as some have suggested. We sincerely apologize for the hasty and inaccurate information provided initially. We will fulfill our responsibilities according to the classification determined by the investigative authorities," BigHit Music wrote on the fan community platform Weverse.