User:Peppapig567

Welcome to my page! I am currently a college student and resident of Washington. I plan on getting my AA degree transferring to Central Washington University or University of Washington Bothell! I have always had a strong passion for writing, expressing myself through poetry, short stories, or essays and I plan on writing a book in the near future. I also express myself through drawing and photography. As for lifestyle, I am vegan and hope to start getting more involved in the vegan movement.

I am interested in researching further into my favorite bands and artists. We often think we are highly knowledgeable about our favorite groups, but seldom take the time to deep dive into the world wide web and expand our knowledge of them. One band that has had a major influence in my life is BTS, a South Korean boy group who has recently reached international fame. I haven't frequently used Wikipedia in the past, so involving myself in this collaborative encyclopedia will hopefully open my eyes to its resourcefulness and make me want to use it more!

Article Review

I visited the Conscription in South Korea page on Wikipedia, and found three aspects of it worth commenting on: citations, structure, and age. After gradually becoming more interested in the genre of Korean pop music, also known as Kpop, I couldn’t help but become interested and question some of the laws of South Korea and how their society as a whole operates. Many K-pop idols are forced to put their entire careers on hold because of this law, so I assume many fans would want a reliable and up to date Wikipedia page covering this controversial topic.

Citations

Throughout the article, each fact that is stated is neatly linked to a citation and most of the citations come from reliable and non-biased articles or books. On the other hand, I did come across a few websites that were laced with advertisements and lack of information in general. One example is a website that failed to list the author and also did not list where any of the facts came from. Overall, this article did a good job of adding an abundance of citations, however a few unreliable sources should be replaced with reliable ones.

Age

For the most part, this article is up to date; however, the article didn't mention that the globally successful Korean boy group BTS was recently exempted from the military service (although they declined the exemption). Currently, only athletes, classical and traditional musicians, and dancers can be exempted from military services by representing South Korea in a highly respectable way. Furthermore, it doesn't include that by BTS proving to be strong representatives for South Korea by speaking at the United Nations, hitting number one on the Billboard 200 with their latest album, being the first K-pop group to win an award at the Billboard Music Awards and accomplishing countless other achievements, can earn exemption.

Structure/Completeness

The beginning of the article includes a clear table of contents, including nine units followed by a few sub-units to narrow some of the broader topics. The introduction of the article is only two sentences long and covers a couple key points but could have added other points and expanded on them. One point not mentioned was why conscription in South Korea even began in the first place. As for the first unit, titled "Establishment", the minimum age requirement to be enlisted is repeated more than necessary. Overall, the skeleton of this article is strong but should be expanded upon.

Summary

To conclude, this article does give a good overview of how conscription in South Korea has been for decades and still is. They list reliable citations, construct a clear and concise structure and are fairly up to date with their policies and how the overall conscription program works, but fall behind in newer, critical exemption examples. Within the last year, with BTS given an untypical exemption despite being a boy group, this article should be more up to date with newer exemption examples and policies.

Here is a link to the talk page I contributed to: Talk:Conscription in South Korea