Park Bo Gum will not receive sanctions for promoting the finale of Record of Youth at a Navy event. This was the assurance made by Navy officials after the actor received criticism from netizens.
According to a report by All Kpop, Park Bo Gum recently completed his five-week training before he performed his first assignment as part of the Navy's promotion unit.
The actor was tapped to host the 2020 Korea Navy Defense Concert at Jeju Island. During the event, he was asked by his co-host Park Se Young about his drama Record of Youth. On the same night, the drama was scheduled to air the final episode so Park Bo Gum mentioned this to the audience. He also invited the attendees to tune in to the drama after the concert and support his upcoming sci-fi film Seo Bok which will be shown in December.
Some netizens took issue with Bo Gum's statement and said that plugging his projects while he was enlisted was a violation of the military law. Under the rules, soldiers are prohibited from participating in for-profit jobs while they are fulfilling mandatory service.
In response, the Republic of Korea Navy cleared Park Bo Gum of any violation after investigating the incident. According to its statement, Park Bo Gum was merely responding to the question of his co-host and did not instigate the promotion of his projects. The Navy assured that they went through a legal review of the incident and deemed that Park Bo Gum's statement was not a profit-seeking activity.
However, the agency stated that they will be more careful in the future to prevent t such incidents from happening again.
Park Bo Gum, who quietly enlisted in the military last August 31, completed the training phase of his enlistment and is now serving as a cultural promotion sailor of the Korean Navy.
Prior to his enlistment, Bo Gum completed three major projects. Record of Youth, a drama about a model struggling to forge a career in acting, started airing on tvN around the same time he enlisted to the service.
He also completed two sci-fi movies. The first is Seo Bok, where he plays the role of the first successful human clone who is being hunted down for decommissioning. He receives the protection of Gong Yoo, who plays a former intelligence agent. The movie is expected to premiere in Korean theaters this December, The Korea Herald reported.
His final project before enlistment is also a movie with Gong Yoo. The two actors join forces with Choi Woo Shik, Bae Suzy, and Jung Yumi for the sci-fi flick Wonderland. The film revolves around an artificial simulation experience that allows people to be with the people they can no longer be with in real life. Park Bo Gum plays the role of Suzy's boyfriend, who falls into a coma. Talks are underway to release the film on Netflix but the deal has not been finalized yet, All Kpop reported.
