Soft Power, Softer Service?

I've posted before about the ongoing debate over mandatory military service in South Korea (about two years, only for men) and whether or not "national treasures" like excellent athletes or performers or scientists should get special treatment.  With K-pop boy-band sensations BTS at the top of the Billboard charts, the arguments for and against continue apace:

"Current laws allow men to postpone their military service until the age of 28 for academic reasons such as studying abroad, or enrollment in graduate school or in the the Judicial Research and Training Institute after passing the bar exam. Additional exceptions are made for men enrolled in Ph.D. programs abroad, who can postpone their service until age 30. 

Current laws also allow athletes or artists of classical or traditional arts such as gugak (traditional Korean music) to substitute military service with volunteer work approved by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.  

Only athletes and artists who have won awards in international and national competitions designated by the Military Manpower Administration, such as the Olympic Games or the Asian Games, are allowed to apply for the substitution for their military service.  

Examples include famed footballer Son Heung-min, who gained an exemption after Korea's national football team won gold at the Asian Games in 2018, and pianist Cho Seong-jin, who won the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in 2009 and the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015."

It's complicated, obviously.  When K-pop groups "make money" for the Korean economy (as claimed by pro-exemption folks) just how much of it is going to public projects, and how much is lining the pockets of the managers and producers?  We all know Soft Power is An Important Thing, but how do you put an objective price on it?  And is 20 months really all that much to ask for performers who haven't reached 30 yet?  (I think the arguments for athletes are actually much stronger, in terms of "lost time.")

For what it's worth among my very small sample size of Korean students, the males definitely tend to oppose any and all exemptions, while the female students are more open to the idea.