Loyalty to the country, loyalty to superiors, loyalty to girls' generation
On January 18, 1967, nearly two years had passed since the United States had directly sent troops to Vietnam, and the fierce fighting had exhausted the soldiers, while the end of the war was far away.
But for the U.S. military in Cu Chi District, Saigon, Vietnam, it was a rare and relaxing day, as the famous movie star Bob Hope will hold a condolence performance here to boost the morale of the army.
Among the almost identical American stars, a Korean girl group called "Korean Kittens" stands out. Three members dressed in high-pitched cheongsam danced on stage, and it was clear from the smiling smiles of the American soldiers in the audience that they were quite satisfied with the performance of the "Korean Kitten".
▲ "Korean Kitten" performed in the Vietnamese Labor Army
When it comes to Korean girl groups, the first thing that many people think of is sexiness, and as can be seen from the performance of "Korean Kitten", this style has been very popular at least in the 1960s. Their costumes and performances are reminiscent of the 2008 "Nobody" that swept the internet, but the scale seems to be larger.
With the development of Korean girl groups, the skirts of women's group members are getting shorter and shorter. On the South Korean social media Instiz, there is a post called "Review of South Korea's miniskirt mania", netizens posted a photo of singer Yoon Fu-ji below, saying that she started the trend - Yoon Fu-ji is one of the members of the Korean kitten.
The performance of "Korean Kitten" in Vietnam has already implied two keywords that will follow the Korean girl group in the future: sexy, and military.
On February 24, 2021, some netizens uploaded a video of the South Korean girl group "Brave Girls" performing in the barracks to the Internet, and the excited cheers of South Korean soldiers in the video were impressive. As a result, the video suddenly went viral on the Internet, and the number of views has exceeded 20 million so far.
Because of the popularity of this video, The 10-year-old Brave Girls regained the top spot on the charts, their song "Rollin'" dominated the charts in South Korea for 3 consecutive months, and they had planned to disband in May, just the day before the video was uploaded, some people had even moved their luggage out of their dormitories, and some people were ready to become baristas. After all, for a girl group with an average age of 30 years old, it is necessary to consider the future life.
The reason why Brave Girls can regain half the sky, in addition to a little luck factor, the main reason is because of the super popularity accumulated in the army before.
South Korean girl groups have always had a tradition of going to the army to offer condolence performances, but there are few who are as diligent as Brave Girls. In the past four years, they have performed 72 performances in the army, and even more than 100.
Not only that, even in remote places, they would tirelessly go to the barracks to perform, the farthest of which was a 12-hour round trip to the Bailing Island Barracks to perform for the soldiers. So far away, very few other women's groups would be willing to come, for these soldiers in the remote barracks, there are women's groups willing to run to such a place where birds don't to perform for them, is there anything more touching than this?
▲ The dust lifted by the soldiers was jokingly called the "Sandstorm of Bailing Island"
In this way, although Brave Girls are not famous in society, they are the goddesses of many soldiers in the army, "When Rollin' was released, they were still second class soldiers, and all the troops were 'Rollin after breakfast, Rollin after lunch, Rollin after dinner'. ”
Members of the Brave Girls also said: "Never heard such a loud cheer, the first time in the army. The more remote the troops, the louder the soldiers' shouts became. We didn't feel tired at all, and we gained a lot of energy there. ”
These soldiers, who had been desperately shouting in the audience, naturally had to desperately push their goddesses to the top of the list when they saw the news that Brave Girls were about to disband.
▲ Brave Girls performed for The ROK Air Force unit in 2019
So the question is, many countries in the world have activities to comfort the army, but it is extremely rare for a system like South Korea to form, why do these girl groups like to run to the army to perform?
The first reason is because the South Korean military is in high demand.
The Constitution of South Korea stipulates that "all citizens of South Korea are obliged to perform military service", and all men who are physically qualified are required to enter the military for about 20 months between the ages of 18 and 28. Because South Korea implements a compulsory military service system, every year people rack their brains to try to desert military service, and even do not want nationality.
According to data released by south Korea's Ministry of Justice, from 2015 to 2020, 13,433 dual citizens chose to renounce Their Korean citizenship, more than 80% of whom were young people under the age of 20, many of whom gave up their Korean citizenship for military service.
Originally, many Young South Koreans did not volunteer to become soldiers, not to mention the extreme lack of recreational activities in the army. It wasn't until April 2018 that South Korea's Ministry of National Defense began easing the ban on mobile phone use in phases in some units, with soldiers using their phones from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends.
Of course, in order to solve the spiritual needs of soldiers, the South Korean military has not thought of a way, as early as the 1950s, South Korean local troops began to select some soldiers with special skills to form cultural propaganda teams.
At that time, there were more than 40 literary and artistic propaganda teams in the first and above units of the Korean Army division, and their main work was to perform and publicize theatrical performances.
With the increase of literary and artistic propaganda teams, literary and artistic propaganda activities within the army gradually normalized, but at that time, these literary and artistic soldiers were often despised within the Korean army, and they were called "TANTATRA", close to the word "drama" in the Chinese.
But the literary soldiers will soon become real sweets.
In 1996, after Kim Dong-jin became South Korea's defense minister, he institutionalized the literary and artistic arms and officially named it the National Defense Broadcasting Support Team. At this point in time, it is just when the Korean entertainment industry is about to take off, and the three giants of Korean entertainment: SM, JYP and YG were established between 1995 and 1997. After the Asian financial turmoil in 1998, South Korea put forward the strategy of "cultural nation-building", and the Korean Wave is about to sweep the world.
▲ South Korean President Kim Dae-jung
Stars are also required to serve in the military, so the National Defense Broadcasting Support Team simply recruited stars who joined the army directly. In addition to using radio and television as workplaces in the Ministry of Defense, they also often traveled to the troops on condolence trains. The labor performance program "Condolence Train" in which Brave Girls participated belonged to KFN TELEVISION, which is affiliated with the South Korean Ministry of National Defense.
▲ "Condolence Train" program
After becoming a literary and artistic soldier, he can receive a subsidy of about 110,000 won per month, which is equivalent to the standard of a superior soldier, and in addition to having a 40-day vacation for ordinary soldiers, the literary and artistic soldiers can also leave the army for 150 days in the name of supplementary leave. Therefore, for many stars who join the army, choosing to become a literary and artistic soldier is the first choice for many people.
On the surface, it may seem as if these stars have taken advantage, but the real takeover is the South Korean Ministry of National Defense. 110,000 won can make the agency spend a lot of effort to cultivate the A-list stars to work for you, is there a better deal than this? Not only that, but south Korea's Ministry of National Defense is using the fame of these stars to attract young people to become soldiers.
Of course, compared with brokerage companies, the South Korean Ministry of Defense's oppression of these stars is not inferior. Celebrities and agencies often report to the media that artists are forced to participate in high-intensity theatrical performances, and singer Kim Tae-woo said in an interview with tv: "The schedule of military life is full, and I really don't want to live." I don't want to do a show I don't like just because I'm an artist. ”
Not only that, when the Ministry of National Defense signed a contract with the literary and artistic soldiers, it asked them to "agree that all intellectual property rights such as copyright, portrait rights, and sales rights of programs produced during their service as propaganda team members shall belong to the Ministry of National Defense."
The National Defense Propaganda Institute sells CDs of movies and other video programs starring Insan at a price of 10,000 to 20,000 won each. Not only that, but the copyright and broadcast rights of the video materials will be sold separately, and if the program lasts more than 60 minutes, the price of the playback rights will be 1 million won.
As for who to sell, of course, it is sold to fans of celebrities.
Where the money earned was spent, the South Korean Defense Ministry's Propaganda Bureau explained: "This is a legal act discussed and approved by the Ministry of National Defense's Legal Affairs Office, and all the income will go to the Ministry of Planning and Finance, not the military will squander it." ”
Although the literary and artistic soldiers have made the South Korean Ministry of Defense a lot of money, they have attracted a lot of controversy and criticism.
In addition to the more arduous performance, the literary and artistic soldiers have a lot more privileges than ordinary soldiers. According to the regulations, the number of annual vacation days (43 days) of ordinary soldiers is 1.7 times more, ordinary soldiers are often only allowed to go out once a month, and literary and artistic soldiers can go out freely at any time as needed. According to the South Korean Defense Ministry, South Korean star Rain spent 94 days in service on vacation or out of bed, and can also date his girlfriend Kim Tae-hee at any time.
▲ Rain was still wearing a military uniform on a date
Under the social media of Kim Kwan-jin, the minister of defense at the time, a female netizen named "boyfriend's girlfriend who is serving" left a message saying: "It is difficult for me to meet my boyfriend who is serving in the military, but Kim Tae-hee can often see her boyfriend, is this fair?" ”
In 2007, a famous South Korean singer gambled in a famous health resort in the Philippines, and on February 22 alone, the singer lost nearly $200,000, which caused a great negative impact on the South Korean army after this incident was exposed.
▲ South Korean SBS radio exposed the barracks life of South Korean literary and artistic soldiers
Because of these controversies, the South Korean Ministry of National Defense had to painfully let go of the goose that would only lay golden eggs, and on July 18, 2013, it decided to officially abolish the literary and artistic soldier system.
Although the literary and artistic soldiers were abolished, the needs of soldiers and the army did not disappear, especially the women's group, which was simply the greatest spiritual sustenance of Korean soldiers during their service, and there was even a rumor within the Korean army that "loyalty to the country, loyalty to superiors, loyalty to girls' generation!" Such words. Of course, if they can see the performance of the girl group, they will definitely be more loyal to their superiors.
▲ I don't know whether the previous words are true or false, but they are really loyal to girls' generation
As a result, civilian entertainment groups replaced the literary and artistic soldiers and began to become the main body of the condolence army.
However, it can be seen from the subsidies of literary and artistic soldiers that it is impossible for the budget-conscious South Korean Ministry of National Defense to pay a lot of money to invite women's groups to perform for soldiers. Popular girl groups are paid between 30 million and 40 million won for a commercial performance, and it is impossible for the South Korean Ministry of National Defense to pay so much money, so most of the people they invite are unknown women's groups.
According to a 2013 report by the South Korean Ministry of National Defense, the women's group performs a performance in the army, and the remuneration is generally between 1 million won (5648 yuan) and 2 million won (11296 yuan), deducting miscellaneous expenses, each member gets very little money, and the military camp is a little farther away, I am afraid that even the travel fee is not enough.
Now you can understand why the South Korean soldiers are so crazy at the sight of Brave Girls.
But with such a little remuneration, why would there be a girl group that tirelessly performed condolence performances?
Here's a statistic that from 2012 to 2015, the South Korean military invited as many as 53 girl groups to perform, and the most performed girl group Stellar performed 32 times.
The girl group, which was founded in 2011 like Brave Girls, announced its dissolution as early as 2018, and the biggest trace they left on the Internet was a large-scale MV, although at the beginning they took the cute route.
▲ Stellar girl group
LSPs should have all seen their MV
And South Korea has to launch dozens of girl groups every year, and the only ones that can really become popular and be remembered are only single digits. The girl group of the leading company is in a better situation, after all, it has a lot of resources and exposure, but most of the girl groups need a lot of luck to become popular.
Also because of the popular fan video of the girl group EXID, in a previous performance only 38 fans attended, only 6 people participated in the meeting, in order to be known by more people, they have also performed on the street many times.
▲EXID performs on the street
For these girl groups, the most important thing is not income, but popularity and fan base.
So the question is, where in South Korea do women's groups have the highest audience and fan density? The army with the most men, of course.
Well-known female groups generally comfort the army after becoming popular, but for many debuting female groups, performing in the army is the most efficient choice for quickly accumulating popularity, which does not require a high threshold and can quickly reach a large number of young male audiences, not to mention that these audiences are more than one fanatic.
Of course, such a large audience group and high-intensity performances can also allow newcomers who have just debuted to quickly accumulate stage experience.
Moreover, the most popular group in society is not necessarily the most popular in the military, because soldiers have their own rankings - "Millboard". The term is a combination of "military" and "Billboard." Those girl groups, which were particularly popular among soldiers, were called "daetongnyeong", which means "commander in the army".
▲ Brave Girls ascended to the first place on Millboard
In addition, participating in labor activities can also help the women's group improve its image, a South Korean entertainment industry insider said: "Compared with other activities, the army performances lack a lot of things, but they can help the girl group to establish a positive image, and the audience's reaction is also explosive, so we feel that the invitation of the army is precious." ”
Although most girl groups rarely have the luck of Brave Girls, who can turn around 10 years after their debut, in the fierce competition, this is one of the few ways to break through.
Today, this mutual use of each other's needs between the South Korean army and the women's group has long formed a complete ecological cycle, and it will continue to exist in the foreseeable future.
As for the South Korean soldiers, they were all busy cheering for the goddess on the stage, and probably didn't have time to care about these things.