The Republic of Korea Navy responded to the controversy surrounding Park Bo Gum's promotion of his drama at a public concert.
On October 27, the actor hosted the '2020 Korea Navy Defense Concert' as his first official promotional activity since his enlistment. When co-host Park Se Young asked him at the concert about the drama 'Record of Youth' and his navy enlistment, Park Bo Gum responded, "I completed my training, and I'm now participating in my first official event on Jeju Island. Tonight is also the night of the 'Record of Youth' finale. I hope that people will tune in to the drama after enjoying tonight's concert." He further promoted his upcoming science-fiction movie 'Seobok', which also stars Gong Yoo.
As military law states soldiers cannot participate in for-profit jobs while serving, controversy arose around Park Bo Gum's promotions of his projects. A petition was also started online, stating Park Bo Gum's comments could be considered profit-seeking activity as it could affect his projects' viewership. However on October 28, the Republic of Korea Navy stated Park Bo Gum's comments were not an issue legally. The navy stated, "Park Bo Gum's statement at the event yesterday was a response to his co-host's question. After legal review, it was concluded that it was just a happening rather than a profit-seeking activity. In the future, we'll carefully look over these aspects when we engage in public activities."
Park Bo Gum enlisted for his mandatory military service on August 31 KST, and he's serving as a cultural promotion sailor for the navy.
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Yeeesh. The co-host obviously asked a direct question about his pre-enlistment activities as an actor so he responded in kind. It's expected that he'd answer that way and it was probably a knee-jerk reaction to the question to do so. It's also not like he was being paid to be there to promote those projects. If people are that sensitive about celebrities still being "celebrities" while serving in the military, then the military shouldn't be using any of their celebrity conscripts for any kind of promotional purposes at all.