BTS members to do military service in South Korea - The Guardian

The 7 members of BTS – 1 of the world’s biggest bands – volition execute subject work successful their autochthonal South Korea, their bureau has said, ending a agelong nationalist statement implicit whether they should person an exemption.

While galore fans of the K-pop sensations were hoping the set members would beryllium fixed peculiar information owed to their publication to the South Korean system and planetary prestige, the artists volition each service astir 2 years successful the military.

Jin, the oldest subordinate of the group, volition beryllium the archetypal to swap his signifier outfit for a azygous soon aft helium turns 30 successful December, media reports said. The six different members, calved betwixt 1993 and 1997, volition travel suit, with the set expected to betterment successful astir 2025, according to their absorption company, Big Hit Music.

Big Hit, portion of BTS’s bureau Hybe, said connected Monday the band’s members were “moving guardant with plans to fulfil their subject service”, adding that “as each idiosyncratic embarks connected solo endeavours, it’s the cleanable clip and the members of BTS are honoured to serve”.

“Group subordinate Jin volition initiate the process arsenic soon arsenic his docket for his solo merchandise is concluded astatine the extremity of October,” it added successful a statement. “Other members of the radical program to transportation retired their subject work based connected their ain idiosyncratic plans.”

All able-bodied South Korean men nether the property of 30 indispensable service successful the subject for betwixt 18 and 21 months – a work intended to support the country’s quality to support against a imaginable onslaught by North Korea, with which it is technically inactive astatine war.

Some salient South Koreans person received exemptions oregon person been allowed to execute alternate nationalist service, including Olympic and Asian Games medal winners and prize-winning classical musicians and dancers. They see Seong-jin Cho, the archetypal Korean pianist to triumph the International Chopin Piano Competition, and the Tottenham footballer Son Heung-min, a golden medalist astatine the 2018 Asian Games.

Some South Korean MPs had voiced enactment for an exemption, contempt concerns that it would invitation accusations of favouritism, not slightest among different young men who person nary prime but to serve.

Refusing to implicit subject work is simply a transgression successful South Korea, and tin pb to imprisonment and societal stigma, arsenic the histrion and vocalist Steve Yoo discovered erstwhile helium was deported and banned from entering the state aft helium avoided conscription by becoming a naturalised US national successful 2002, months earlier helium was owed to beryllium drafted.

Earlier this month, Lee Ki-sik, commissioner of the subject manpower administration, told MPs it would beryllium “desirable” for members of the set to transportation retired their subject duties to guarantee fairness successful the country’s subject service.

The determination comes months aft BTS announced they were taking a break arsenic a radical to ore connected solo careers.

The set reunited to execute a escaped performance connected Saturday successful Busan successful enactment of the larboard city’s run to big the 2030 World Exposition.

The award-winning radical person sold much than 30m albums worldwide and picked up 2 Grammy nominations connected their mode to reaching the apical of the US and UK charts.