All BTS Members Decide to Enlist, Aim to Resume Activities in 2025

Last Updated on 10/18/2022 by てんしょく飯

All members of the popular South Korean idol group Bulletproof Youth Team (BTS), including Jin, have announced that they have decided to enlist in the military. With this, BTS will take a more than two-year long hiatus after their concert in Busan on October 15.

BTS voluntarily withdraws its draft deferment.

On October 17, Hive, a subsidiary of BTS’s agency, Big Hit Music, stated, “Our artist, Bulletproof Youth Team, will begin the necessary preparations for the draft,” and added, “‘Jin’ (Kim Seok-jin), a member of Bulletproof Youth Team, has declined the application for deferment of his enlistment at the end of October 2022, and since He will be enlisted through the enlistment-related procedures of the South Korean Military Service Agency,” he announced. The other members will also be drafted into the military sequentially according to their respective plans, the official said.

BTS (RM, Jin, SUGA, J-HOPE, Jimin, V, and Jongguk), which debuted in June 2013, has gained worldwide popularity by building a fandom mainly on SNS and YouTube. from 2017 to last year, they were the first K-pop group in history to win five consecutive US Billboard Music Awards. in November 2017, they were the first K-pop group to perform at the AMA (American Music Awards). In May of the following year, they became the first Korean artist to record a Billboard 200 on the Billboard Main Albums chart, and in January 2020, they became the first Korean artist to perform at the Grammy Awards. Last January, he won “Artist of the Year” at the American Music Awards. He has had numerous hits including “Dynamite,” “DNA,” “Butter,” and “Permission to Dance.

Jin, who was born in 1992, was drafted last year, but was allowed to defer his draft status upon recommendation by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea. The problem was then that the draft was postponed until the age of 30.

It was then that the problem arose. Under the current Conscription Law, those who have contributed to the nation in the field of arts and physical education are allowed to serve as substitutes for 34 months of military service as arts and physical education personnel. In effect, they are “exempted” from conscription. However, according to the executive order of the draft law, arts professionals engaged in the field of popular culture are not recognized as contributors in the field of arts and physical education. This has deepened the debate over the “fairness” issue beyond the popular culture industry and in political circles. Some argued that it is in the national interest to exempt BTS from the draft for their contributions to the country, while others argued that since many people are sensitive to the draft, exempting only BTS from the draft may be seen as favoritism. The proposed amendment to include the “popular culture” category in the arts and athletics category was also debated in the National Assembly, but no conclusion was reached.

BTS announced at their concert held at the Asiad Stadium in Busan on March 15 that “this concert will be the last of our scheduled concerts,” and that “the time has passed so quickly. ‘The time has gone by so fast. That’s how happy we must have been together,” he told fans.

It is likely that BTS will not resume their activities until after 2025. A Big Hit Music representative said, “In accordance with each member’s draft transition plan, we plan to focus on individual activities for the time being,” adding, “The parties and members hope to resume their activities from 2025.

In a letter sent to shareholders, Park Jiong, Hive’s representative director, wrote, “Through this announcement, the preparations that we have been making for some time have become a reality. We are now able to clarify our future plans, which had been vague, and we are going to proceed with our business as planned. He added, “In the short term, until the first half of 2023, some of the members are planning individual activities, etc. We will utilize the contents we have prepared in advance and proceed so that BTS and fans can connect together.

Hive’s future strategies include: -Applying K-pop production methods, including Japan and the U.S. -Debuting four teams next year -Live streaming via fan platform Weebus -New subscription-based services -Continuous updates and expanded publishing of BTS-related games He presented the use of Supertone’s AI-based voice and chorus synthesis technology, among others.

He also reported that sales of other traditional artists belonging to Seventeen, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, ENHYPEN, and other traditional labels, excluding BTS, are also growing at more than three times faster than last year, inducing cooperation and competition with the nine traditional independent labels.