BTS management said Monday its members will do their mandatory military service.
“Both the company and the members of BTS are looking forward to reconvening as a group again around 2025 following their service commitment,” read a statement from Big Hit Music.
First to go will be Jin, who turns 30 in December, according to a regulatory filing by Big Hit’s parent company HYBE. “Jin will cancel the request to delay enlistment in late October 2022 and follow the Military Manpower Administration’s relevant procedures for enlistment.”
In its statement, Big Hit explained "Jin will initiate the process as soon as his schedule for his solo release is concluded at the end of October. He will then follow the enlistment procedure of the Korean government. Other members of the group plan to carry out their military service based on their own individual plans."
The remaining members of BTS currently range in age from 25 to 29.
South Korea’s conscription law requires most males to register to start 18 months of military service by the time they are 28. A 2021 amendment allowed pop stars who have received government medals to apply for deferment of their military service until they are 30. BTS received the Order of Cultural Merit by president Moon Jae-In in 2018.
Politicians have debated giving the members of BTS an exemption from military service, citing the group’s value to the South Korean economy. But, the commissioner of the military manpower administration, Lee Ki-sik, was quoted as saying an exemption could “garner feelings of discrimination, discrepancy and discouragement among the younger male generation who are fulfilling their military duties.”
In 2019, BTS management said it believes “military service is a duty, and we will try to show the fans the best of BTS until, and after, the members have fulfilled their service duties.”
BTS announced in June they were taking a break but insisted they were not breaking up.
“We’re each going to take some time to have fun and experience lots of things,” said Jungkook. “We promise we will return someday.”
The group reunited for a concert this past weekend in support of South Korea’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Busan.