After Jin in December 2022, J-Hope in April 2023 and SUGA last September, RM and V began their military service in South Korea this Monday. Once the other two singers, Jimin and Jungkook, enlist in the military on Tuesday, all seven members of the group will be serving.
Jin and J-Hope are currently assistant instructors for new recruits at two different Army training camps. The other member, SUGA, began his military service as a social service officer in September because he was deemed unfit for active duty. “We ask that you continue to love and support RM, Jimin, V and Jung Kook until they finish their military service,” announced their label (BigHit Music) in a statement posted on the group’s social networks . “Our company will spare no effort to support our artists.”
In South Korea, military service is compulsory for all able-bodied young men between the ages of 18 and 28. But the members of the world’s most popular K-Pop group have enjoyed a few years of respite. Parliament revised South Korean law in 2020 to allow BTS members to defer their mandatory military service. The boy band’s exponential success would have been threatened if its rise had been put on hold. Thus, the eldest of the group, Jin, was not enlisted until he turned thirty, in 2022.
The four new recruits will begin their five-week basic training at a military training camp in South Chungcheong Province. Their military service as such must last at least 18 months. A severe setback for the K-Pop group whose international success is still booming. If fans show their unconditional support on the South Korean social network Weverse, uncertainty remains: will the septet take the stage again once their military service is completed? On several occasions, the careers of South Korean male stars have suffered from this compulsory passage under the flag. It remains to be seen whether this fast-paced industry hungry for new talent will wait a year and a half for the country’s most lucrative boy band.
In ten years, the septet has become a global cultural phenomenon, filling stadiums around the world and dominating the main American charts thanks to a legion of fans nicknamed “ARMY” and above all bringing in colossal sums for the South Korean economy. According to the Hyundai Research Institute, the boy band generates more than 3.6 billion dollars per year.
RM, leader of the group whose full name is Kim Nam-joon, published a message in Korean on the social network Weverse intended to reassure his fans. He says it is “a period of learning and new inspirations”. “This day has finally come. For now, goodbye. Let’s be ourselves, anytime and anywhere! Let’s meet again in the future,” he added.
As for V, whose real name is Kim Tae-hyung, released portraits of himself sporting sunglasses, a cropped head approved by the army and a headscarf. “It was a dream to wear sunglasses with a shaved head. I wanted to try it one day, it works well,” he wrote on his Instagram account on Sunday. He also published a photo in his story with the caption: “I will be back”, to mark his temporary distance from social networks.
However, the HYBE agency announced in September that the seven members of the group had renewed their contract with it. Fans see this as a sign that the members of BTS will return to the spotlight once they return to civilian life. The year 2025 has been mentioned for their return.
