Netizens Claiming as Fans Insist That A Petition to Exempt EXO From Military is Circulating

EXO fans, or rather anti-fans, are requesting authorities to exempt EXO for participating in Korea's long standing tradition of enlisting all of-age men in the military.

Oct 30, 2013 06:18 AM GMT

TAGㆍEXO

Just recently, a new propaganda is circling the internet. A netizen under the username "lime****" was seen posting "Everyone, this is not the problem here!!! Please help our EXO oppas become exempt from military service! Instead of our oppas, can't regular guys just add a few more years to their service instead? They can just think of it as being on a retreat a little longer. The EXO fanclub is currently collecting signatures for a petition. Please sign to help our EXO oppas become exempt from service."

The post soon gained support and another netizen commented, "It is absurd for our precious EXO to go to the army." Another chimed in an added, "If you search 'EXO military exemption' on the internet, [you'll see that] 468,821 people in the fan club have participated in the petition. Give us a bit more strength."

While to diehard EXO patrons this may seem like a simple expression of concern, the petition didn't fare well with other netizens, especially among the "regular guys" fans are insisting should serve more time in the military to compensate for EXO's supposed non-attendance. "Why don't you go in place of your oppas then?" one netizen suggested. Others commented, "I definitely have to see EXO enter the army now," and "If EXO enlist, I will make sure to personally train them."

Seeing most of the public response alerted other EXO fans to express their worries for the members of the boy group, who are now possibly put into jeopardy because of the careless actions of a few naïve fans. "Because of a few immature fans, EXO oppas are the ones who get cursed at."

Media outlet DongA Ilbo looked into the issue and found out that no such petition exists. There is, as a matter of fact, no official EXO fan club, but rather only a bunch of separately managed organizations. Only a few netizens, and they haven't been confirmed to be true fans or just nuisance trolls, insisted that such a petition was really circulating. Although links can be viewed on various portal sites, their credibility could not be validated. In addition, there were also EXO extremist who strongly suggested that the band's song "Growl" should be made into the country's new national anthem.

Because the petition sounds very immature and debasing, some are wondering if these so-called fans are actually anti-fans working to fire negative attention at EXO and destroy the group's reputation.

The alarming situation reached SM Entertainment and the company immediately shared their response on the matter. "At the moment ,we are unable to discern if these posts were written by fans or anti-fans. It seems like a happening that stems from the high popularity that EXO is receiving."

A representative from the Military Manpower Administration also shed their opinion regarding the request to exempt EXO from service. "Although it is the insistence of some fan girls, their views on the exemption from military service are a cause of concern... If the celebrities, who are supposed to be role models for the youth, directly express their thoughts on fulfilling military service themselves, then perhaps these immature thoughts of fan girls will die down a bit.

So what do you guys think? Have the EXO fans, or rather anti-fans, really gone to far this time?

TagㆍEXO