Cloud USA

— Cloud cover by: Stephe, Managing Editor ^@@^

“The entertainment soldiers’duties consisted of participating in various events morning and evening as well as standing guard in the barracks, and they did not even get a chance to properly rest on holidays. Every holiday, they would be called upon to serve at this or that event. It is often the case that entertainment soldiers would be called upon to work for private affairs of the military officers.” — Star News, on entertainment soldiers in 2005

“Above all, there are now too many tasks for which PR soldiers are mobilized. There has been an increase in the number of radio and TV military broadcasts, and they also need to appear in films and musicals, and the various scheduled events have multiplied manifold.” — Star News, on entertainment soldiers present day

“It is true that Corporal ‘Jung Ji Hoon’ ought to be penalized for going on dates while he should have been on official military duty. However, the more serious problem is that the other systemic problems have not been addressed aside from the disciplinary action against the individual soldier.” — Star News

Star News’ findings on Rain in their article below are backed up by our own research on Rain’s 2012 entertainment activities alone (those that have been made public, that is). For every dot on our researched calendar, we have a military assignment on a prepared 9-page schedule that can be sourced and corroborated by articles or images from the R.O.K. Army itself and the Media. That Rain did every one of these assignments on top of his continuous everyday training and numerous basic requirements and the unpublished military appearances he was given can be easily proven.

Rain has put his voice, body, and mind through the weekly and weekend rigors of what might as well be some year-long world concert tour. His health and preexisting conditions (back, skin disorder) have also suffered. After we global fans joined caring Korean citizens and his domestic fans in sending his superiors massive petitions of concern for him and all PR soldiers back in June, things slackened a little and some concessions were made, particularly concerning his radio show, but things never eased up in the way that they should have.

Being battered and bruised in the Infantry actually afforded him more regulated rest periods, at least.

Should there be PR soldiers? Absolutely, yes. The troops love having fellow soldiers who take the time to boost their morale, and they need it badly. But the system needs to be seriously retooled. And anyone who continues to think PR soldiers aren’t worked to death at this point needs to educate themselves with a quickness.

— Stephe @cloudusa.wordpress.com

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Star News 1/4/2013 — [English translation by: 화니]

“Disciplinary action against a soldier addresses only the tail end of the issue. Rain’s conduct is not the core of the larger problem.”

The Year of the Snake has barely begun, and celebrity Rain (real name ‘Jung Ji Hoon) is already facing trouble. Aside from the fact that his romantic relationship with the beautiful star ‘Kim Tae Hee’ has been exposed to the public, he is now scheduled to be referred to the military disciplinary committee for charges of violating the decree on military service.

There are mainly two issues that the Defense Ministry finds problematic about Rain’s conduct. The first is that he did not wear his hat as regulated during his leave, and the second is that he met privately with ‘Kim Tae Hee’ while off the base for official military duties. Those who have served in the Korean military will probably agree that being caught for violating the hat regulation is virtually a matter of bad luck. It is the kind of violation that can end up with varying consequences depending on the commanding officer: one could end up getting punished with a confinement in the guardhouse or the matter can be passed over with only a rebuke.

Although being hatless is considered an infringement of the regulations of the decree on military service, to put this into perspective, even wearing the military’s padded inner wear for cold weather (which Korean soldiers refer to as the “kkalkkalyi”) while on leave in the winter is, strictly speaking, a violation of the regulations. Granted, a soldier going on a date with one’s girlfriend every Sunday while away from the barracks for official duties is a case that other ordinary rank and file soldiers would find enraging.

If the soldier in question has been dating while on official leave or holiday, then this ought to be protected as a matter of privacy. However, for a soldier to enjoy a date while out on official military duties and moreover to be dating out and about in the middle of downtown in Gangnam is the kind of practice that would deeply aggravate ordinary army soldiers, for whom the only pleasure they usually have to look forward to on a weekend is a visit to a religious service outside the barracks to receive the complementary Choco Pie cookie every Sunday.

The Defense Ministry has announced that a disciplinary committee will be held in the service support troop in which Rain is serving to take measures regarding Rain’s violation of the military service regulations in a manner that will ensure fairness with other soldiers. On first sight, this seems to be a fair action. The Defense Ministry also explained that it intends to prepare special disciplinary guidelines to address the issue oflaxity in service discipline among entertainment soldiers (public information services support soldiers). Again, this may also initially appear to be a reasonable measure.

However, what it amounts to is addressing only the surface of the problem by disciplining a rank and file soldier. On two occasions, this reporter had the opportunity to make regular appearances on radio programs hosted by entertainment soldiers in the Defense Agency for Public Information Services.

In 2005, I appeared once a week on a radio program hosted by ‘Lee Min Woo’. In 2010, I also appeared once a week on a radio program hosted by ‘Lee Joon Gi’ These engagements gave me an opportunity to gain some insight into the daily routine and hardships experienced by entertainment soldiers. In 2005, among the entertainment soldiers, ‘Hong Gyeong Min’ was discharged from active military service, while ‘Yun Gye Sang’ {NOTE: Formerly of legendary group g.o.d. — Stephe} and ‘Park Gwang Hyeon’ had just been assigned to the public information support services. ‘Hong Gyeong Min’, as expected for a sergeant near the end of his service, showed a more relaxed demeanor, while ‘Yun Gye Sang’ and others who had just been assigned were more rigid with military discipline.

At the time, such soldiers could only apply to the position of an entertainment soldier after serving around six months in the first-line troops. In other words, these entertainers had to first spend a full six months as a private in the first-line troops before beginning their service as an entertainment soldier. {NOTE: Corporal Jung JiHoon Rain spent 5 months in the Infantry near the Korean Demilitarized Zone as an ordinary private (and promoted to Assistant Training Officer) before being recruited by DEMA as a PR soldier. — Stephe}

This was surely enough time for them to experience the hardships and challenges of being an ordinary rank and file soldier. The entertainment soldiers’duties consisted of participating in various events morning and evening as well as standing guard in the barracks, and they did not even get a chance to properly rest on holidays. Every holiday, they would be called upon to serve at this or that event. It is often the case that entertainment soldiers would be called upon to work for private affairs of the military officers.

Being ordered to serve as an MC or sing at the weddings of the relatives of military officers was pretty much taken for granted. During the time he served in a subordinate unit, ‘Yun Gye Sang’ was even required to show up at the opening of a meat restaurant run by a relative of a military officer. Of course, not all officers engage in such practices. In the case of ‘Lee Min Woo’, while he was in a subordinate unit, the commanding officer at the time not only strictly ordered that Lee should not receive special treatment because he was a well-known entertainer but also that he should not be subject to demands for gossip because of his celebrity status.

Thanks to this, ‘Lee Min Woo’ was able to spend his six months as a private without any mishaps. When I returned to work in military broadcasting after 5 years, the conditions experienced by entertainment soldiers had not changed much in the meantime. If anything, the conditions became even more difficult. Above all, there are now too many tasks for which the entertainment soldiers are mobilized. There has been an increase in the number of radio and TV military broadcasts, and they also need to appear in films and musicals, and the various scheduled events have multiplied manifold.

Since there has been an increase in the uses for entertainment soldiers, there are cases in which instead of selecting them after six months in their home unit, the appointment is already internally decided during the training of new soldiers. In truth, the quota of soldiers assigned to the military public information support service is not large. It consists of only around 20 soldiers. This includes many in technical posts. Therefore, the number of entertainers is itself very small. Under these circumstances, there are many cases in which entertainment soldiers are assigned to the military band and used for various events.

There have even been instances in which plans were already set for entertainers who are scheduled to enter military service in the near future. {NOTE: True. We got a whiff of that from the military PR Department in September 2010. Rain had all the best intentions of staying in Infantry for his whole military career, but no doubt, he was completely undermined. — Stephe} It is of course up to the discretion of the Defense Ministry how they use their human resources. Nonetheless, since the officers are often lacking in consideration and troop support is insufficient, the practice has been to exploit the services of the entertainment soldiers as much as possible and then offering some consolation in the form of vacations or leaves.

This is the reason that entertainment soldiers often receive a greater number of leave days compared to ordinary rank and file soldiers. The reason that Rain had to leave the base was to complete stage practice and music recordings, since the military base did not have the necessary facilities for this work. Moreover, the reason that he was assigned to be working off base during the evenings and holidays rather than during the ordinary work schedule is also because he was ordered to fulfill all his work duties during the weekday schedule on top of working to complete the stage-related requirements during the extra hours.

Working overtime in this manner has been the case not only for Rain but for the majority of singers who became entertainment soldiers. In other words, the work that should have been completed within the bounds of the military was forced on the entertainment soldiers to be performed in their extra private capacities. The entertainment soldiers were not even accompanied by officers when on leave during the day or overnight. Is it really proper to fault only the soldier iflax in discipline becomes a problem when leaves are given during the day or overnight without the supervision of an accompanying officer?

The Defensive Ministry explained that according to the special disciplinary guidelines for entertainment soldiers, when a soldier of the public information support services is away from the base, he will be accompanied by an officer and that performance practices should be completed before 10 PM at which time the soldier will return to the base. The Ministry also explained that the head of the Defense Agency for Public Information Services, who manages the public information support troops, will directly report on a monthly basis to the commander of the service support corps of the Defense Ministry, who is the commanding officer.

We can deduce that the obverse of this is that up to now, the soldiers were not accompanied by officers and their performed activities were not reported in detail. This recent incident has made the position of the entertainment soldier even gloomier while the work has become even more taxing. Nothing has really changed in the system while the soldier is the one who is being exploited to death. It is true that Corporal ‘Jung Ji Hoon’ ought to be penalized for going on dates while he should have been on official military duty. However, the more serious problem is that the other systemic problems have not been addressed aside from the disciplinary action against the individual soldier.

At the time of the Yeonpyeong naval battle, there was an incident in which a photo of Jin-Wook Lee, who was serving as an entertainment soldier, was circulated on the internet showing him on a date near Hongik University. This caused uproar in the public information support services. Around the same time, there was much upset when it was exposed that another entertainment soldier gave a performance while on a leave citing family reasons. This incident was quietly covered up without arousing external exposure. Even then, the systematic problems were not corrected and only the individual entertainment soldiers were caught.

The core of the problem is not Rain’s conduct, but the practices of the officers.

Source : Star News http://star.mt.co.kr/view/stview.php?no=2013010410314134593&type=1&outlink=1

English translation by 화니.

Posted in Bi Rain, Bi Rain MILITARY, Bi Rain News, Cloud USA, Jung Ji Hoon, Rain Topics
Tags: Bi Rain articles, Bi Rain military investigation, bi rain military service, Bi Rain News, Jung Ji Hoon, Korean pop, need to know, rain bi, Rain Korea troubles, Soldier JiHoon Jung Rain, the truth about Jung JiHoon Rain, Yun Gye Sang g.o.d.