Names and faces
■ Suga, a member of K-pop group BTS, began fulfilling his mandatory military duty Friday as a social service agent, an alternate form of military service in the country. Suga, 30, became the group’s third member to start carrying out his military duties. “I’ll faithfully serve and come back … Please stay healthy and let’s meet all again in 2025!” Suga wrote in a message posted on the online fan platform Weverse. BTS’ management agency, Big Hit Music, said that Suga later began commuting to a workplace designated under the country’s alternate military service system. In South Korea, all able-bodied men must serve in the army, navy or air force for 18-21 months under a conscription system established due to threats from rival North Korea. Individuals with physical and mental concerns can instead carry out their duties at non-military facilities such as welfare centers, community service centers and post offices for 21 months. Local media reported Suga’s alternate service was likely related to a shoulder surgery that he underwent in 2020. It wasn’t known in which facility Suga began serving.
■ Actress Sophie Turner sued her estranged pop star husband Joe Jonas on Thursday to force him to turn over the passports of the couple’s two young daughters so she can take them to England. Turner, who was served with divorce papers this month after four years of marriage to Jonas, said in her petition the couple had planned to raise their daughters in her native England. It also said the girls, ages 3 and 1, “are both fully involved and integrated in all aspects of daily and cultural life in England.” The court filing says the girls are temporarily living with Turner in a Manhattan hotel. Jonas said in a statement he is “seeking shared parenting with the kids so that they are raised by both their mother and father” and he is “OK with the kids being raised both in the U.S. and the UK.” “This is an unfortunate legal disagreement about a marriage that is sadly ending,” he added. “When language like ‘abduction’ is used, it is misleading at best, and a serious abuse of the legal system at worst.” Jonas and his brothers Nick and Kevin formed the Jonas Brothers in 2005. He and Turner met in 2016 and married in 2019.