It has been announced that members of pop band BTS will serve their mandatory military duties under South Korean law in the next few years.
The Korean pop group’s management company Big Hit Music announced the news on Monday (17 October).
Big Hit Music said the band’s oldest member, Jin, will revoke his request to delay his conscription at the end of the month and undertake the required conscription steps.
Six other members – namely Jung Kook, Jimin, V, Suga, RM and j-Hope – also plan to serve in the military, according to the company's notice to financial regulators.
Big Hit Music also announced that BTS members are “looking forward to reconvening as a group again around 2025 following their service commitment”.
No further information on the timing of their service has been provided.
Last month, Busan’s mayor asked South Korea’s president to exclude BTS from mandatory military service so they can help support the city’s bid to host the World Expo in 2030.
Park Heong-joon told president Yoon Suk-yeol that “without solving the military service issue, BTS actively promoting Busan’s bid for the Expo might be impossible”.
He told the president that the global event is a “dire necessity” for Busan.
Busan’s mayor said he was asking for an alternative “national responsibility as heavy as the mandatory military service” for the BTS members.
However, during a conference at the National Assembly held on 19 September, South Korean defence minister Suh Wook said that it would be “difficult” to extend this alternative programme to BTS due to “aspects of fairness on fulfilling mandatory military service”.
South Korea’s military service law dictates that “all able-bodied men of Korean nationality must carry out active-duty service in the military for 18 to 22 months”.
