BTS dance to military beat as mandatory service deadline looms for Jin
K-pop sensation BTS has shocked fans by saying the band will take time off for mandatory military service, swapping mics and dances for guns and marches.
However, the Korean boyband’s seven members will enlist one by one rather than all together at the same time, according to a statement released on Monday by their label BigHit Music.
First to don a South Korean military uniform will be 29-year-old Jin, the oldest member of the band. He will begin the 18-month mandatory service after releasing his solo album at the end of October, said the statement.
"Other members – RM, J-Hope, Suga, Jimin, V and Jungkook – plan to carry out their military service based on their own individual plans,” BigHit Music said.
It said fans would have to wait until around 2025 for the band to reunite after fulfilling their military duty.
All able-bodied South Korean men must serve in the armed forces for at least 18 months. The draft begins in the year they turn 18 but they can postpone it until they reach 28.
However, in 2020 South Korean lawmakers passed the so-called “BTS law” to allow K-pop entertainers to postpone military service until the age of 30.
For BTS, that deadline will arrive in December when Jin turns 30. In less of a hurry to join up is Jungkook, the youngest member of the band at 25.
