BTS member Jin is set to begin his mandatory military service on 13 December this year.
South Korean newspaper Aju Business Daily confirmed the news on Thursday (24 November), citing unnamed military authorities.
Jin, who turns 30 years old on 4 December, will be deployed to a unit after receiving five weeks of training at the boot camp, the paper reported.
Spokespeople for BTS’s agency, HYBE, and the South Korean ministry of defense declined to confirm the report.
In a social media post last week, Jin hinted he was headed to a “front-line” position.
Last month, BTS’s management company Big Hit Music announced that all BTS members will serve their mandatory military duties under South Korean law in the next few years.
The company added that 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 – 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.
In September, 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”.
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”.
Additional reporting by agencies
