K-pop star Jin: BTS star Jin has begun his mandatory South Korean military duty. On Tuesday he became the band’s first member to enlist. Fans were heartbroken when hiatus announcement was made earlier.
The band is considered the country’s biggest-ever cultural phenomenon. They have sold out stadiums around the world and dominate the charts. They have also built a global legion of fans known as the Army.
Military service mandatory in South Korea
All physically abled men in South Korea must serve at least 18 months in the military. Amidst debate about whether BTS should be exempted, the band confirmed in October that all members will enlist.
Jin – whose full name is Kim Seok-jin – will begin five weeks of training on Tuesday, the military said.
The star is expected to be deployed to a “frontline” unit near the border with North Korea, reports said. The two countries remain technically at war.
“We ask you to keep your heartwarming words of support and farewell in your hearts,” BTS’s label, Big Hit Music, told fans last week, urging them to stay away from the families-only entrance ceremony.
BTS to regroup on 2025
The group shocked the Army in June when it revealed it was going on hiatus. The group will now reunite around 2025, when its seven members have completed their service.
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“For a while, it’s true that there were many fans who would spend days just crying,” a South Korean fan, who runs the Twitter account @5heterotopia, told AFP. A 20-year-old fan in Dubai, added: “[Jin’s absence] will be like a huge … void for me.”
South Korea exempts classical musicians and some elite athletes, such as Olympic medallists, from duty, but pop stars do not qualify.
“For the K-pop industry, the retreat of BTS will be a big deal,” Lee Taek-gwang, a professor of cultural studies at Kyung Hee University (KHU), told AFP. “During the absence, they could lose public interest, and the decline in popularity will damage their business. It would not be easy for the boyband to reunite.” However, other experts have pointed to the massive success of BTS and said the stars will be an exception to that trend.
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