The members of Ok-pop band BTS will serve their obligatory army duties beneath South Korean regulation, their administration firm mentioned Monday, successfully ending a debate on exempting them due to their creative accomplishments.
Huge Hit Music mentioned the band’s oldest member, Jin, will revoke his request to delay his conscription on the finish of the month and undertake the required conscription steps. The six different members additionally plan to serve within the army, in accordance with the corporate’s discover to monetary regulators, which it described as management-related info that would probably have an effect on funding choices.
Huge Hit issued one other statement on Twitter, saying the corporate and BTS members are “trying ahead to reconvening as a bunch once more round 2025 following their service dedication.”
No additional info on the timing of their service was given. The band members carried out collectively in Busan over the weekend in assist of the town’s EXPO bid, which will probably be their final live performance as a bunch till they end serving within the army, in accordance with their label.
“Every BTS member in the intervening time will give attention to their particular person actions based mostly on their plans to serve within the army,” Hybe Corp., the mother or father firm of Huge Hit, mentioned in an e-mail to The Related Press.
The announcement got here after Lee Ki Sik, commissioner of the Army Manpower Administration, instructed lawmakers this month that it might be “fascinating” for BTS members to fulfil their army duties to make sure equity within the nation’s army service.
After enlisting, Jin and different BTS members will obtain 5 weeks of fight coaching earlier than being assigned to particular models and duties, in accordance with officers on the Army Manpower Administration, who burdened that the singers would go beneath the identical course of as different South Korean males.
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Whereas South Korea’s army for years had assigned enlisted entertainers to duties associated to producing radio and TV materials selling the army, the “leisure soldier” system was retired in 2013 following complaints over equity.
Protection Minister Lee Jong-sup had mentioned in August that if BTS members be part of the army, they might possible be allowed to proceed working towards and to affix again with the group for excursions abroad.
Whether or not the BTS members should serve within the military had been a hotly debated difficulty in South Korea as Jin confronted attainable enlistment early subsequent yr. Jin turns 30 in December, the age at which males can now not delay enlistment. Different members are at the moment between 25 and 29 years outdated, with Suga turning 30 in March.
Underneath South Korean regulation, most able-bodied males are required to carry out 18-21 months of army service, however particular exemptions had been granted for athletes and artists who excel in sure worldwide competitions which were tied with nationwide status.
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The band — its different members being J-Hope, RM, Jungkook, V and Jimin — launched in 2013 and has a legion of worldwide supporters who name themselves the “Military”.
After constructing an enormous following in Asia, BTS expanded its reputation within the West with its 2020 megahit “Dynamite”, the band’s first all-English track that made it the primary Ok-pop act to prime Billboard’s Scorching 100. The band has carried out in sold-out arenas around the globe and was even invited to talk at United Nations conferences.
Since South Korea’s draft interrupts younger males of their skilled careers or research, the dodging of army duties or creation of exemptions is a extremely delicate difficulty. Opinion surveys in current weeks confirmed that the general public was cut up over whether or not the BTS members ought to serve within the army.