S. Korea has 366 student entertainers

SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Yonhap) -- More than 300 elementary, middle and high school students work as singers and actors in South Korea as the debut age of idol stars is increasingly getting younger, a report by the education ministry showed Tuesday. The number of students registered with city and provincial entertainment industry associations across the country stood at 366 as of May, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said in a report submitted to an opposition lawmaker. The tally breaks down to 208 elementary schoolers and 76 and 82 students attending middle and high schools, respectively. Nearly half of the child celebrities resided in Seoul, followed by 64 in Incheon and 97 in Gyeonggi Province. By gender, girls outnumbered boys by 32. Officials believe there are actually more students involved in the entertainment industry because the tally is solely based on the number of those on the registry. But little has been done to protect the child stars' right to study and prevent them graduating from schools without meeting the minimum attendance requirements, Lee Myoung-soo, a lawmaker of the Liberty Forward Party who released the report to media, said. "Since those celebrities are students until they graduate, proper supervision from the educational authority is needed to ensure their right to study and to have them meet the minimum school attendance to graduate," the legislator said.