BTS MEMBER JIN BEGINS MILITARY DUTY AT FRONT-LINE BOOT CAMP
YEONCHEON, South Korea—jin, the oldest member of K-pop supergroup BTS, began his 18 months of mandatory military service at a front-line South Korean boot camp on Tuesday as fans gathered near the base to say goodbye to their star.
Six other younger BTS members are to join the military in the coming years one after another, meaning that the world’s biggest boy band must take a hiatus, likely for a few years. Their enlistments have prompted a fierce domestic debate over whether it’s time to revise the country’s conscription system to expand exemptions to include prominent entertainers, like BTS, or not to provide such benefits to anyone. With lawmakers squabbling at Parliament and surveys showing sharply split public opinions over offering exemptions to BTS members, their management agency said in October that all members would perform their compulsory military duties. Big Hit Music said that both the company and the members of BTS “are looking forward to reconvening as a group again around 2025 following their service commitment.”
Jin, who turned 30 earlier this month, entered the boot camp at Yeoncheon, a town near the tense border with North Korea, for five weeks of basic military training together with other new conscript soldiers, the Defense Ministry said. After the training involving rifle shooting, grenade throwing and marching practices, he and other conscripts would be assigned to army units across the country.
About 20 to 30 fans—some holding Jin’s photos—and dozens of journalists gathered near the camp. But a vehicle carrying Jin moved into the camp without him getting out. The BTS official Twitter account later posted photos showing Jin with other members, likely at the camp, with a message saying: “Our bro!! Have a safe service!! Love you.”
One image showed smiling members touching Jin’s shaved head.
“I want to wait [for] Jin and see him go into the military and wish him all the best,” Mandy Lee from Hong Kong said before Jin’s entrance to the camp.
Jin—whose real name is Kim Seok-jin—wrote on the online fan platform Weverse earlier on Tuesday that “it’s time for a curtain call.” He posted a photo of himself on Sunday with a military buzz cut and a message saying, “Ha ha ha. It’s cuter than I had expected.”
By law, all able-bodied South Korean men must serve in the military for 18 to 21 months under a conscription system established to deal with threats from North Korea. But the law gives special exemptions to athletes, classical and traditional musicians, and ballet and other dancers if they have won top prizes in certain competitions and enhance national prestige. K-pop stars and other entertainers aren’t given such benefits even if they gain worldwide fame and win big international awards.