SEOUL, South Korea –
The members of Ok-pop band BTS will serve their obligatory military duties below South Korean legislation, their administration firm mentioned Monday, successfully ending a debate on whether or not they need to be granted exemptions due to their inventive accomplishments.
Big Hit Music mentioned the band’s oldest member, Jin, will revoke his request to delay his conscription on the finish of the month and undertake the required steps. The six different BTS members additionally plan to serve within the military and are “trying ahead to reconvening as a gaggle once more round 2025 following their service dedication,” the corporate mentioned in a press release.
No additional data on the timing of their service was given. The band members carried out collectively in Busan over the weekend in help of town’s EXPO bid, which will be their final live performance as a gaggle till they end serving within the military, in keeping with their label.
Hybe Corp., the guardian firm of Big Hit, mentioned in an electronic mail to The Associated Press that every member of the band in the meanwhile will give attention to particular person actions scheduled round their military service plans.
In a letter to shareholders, Hybe CEO Park Jiwon downplayed monetary issues associated to the BTS hiatus, saying it has a broad sufficient lineup of artists, together with different in style Ok-pop teams resembling Le Sserafim and NewJeans and Western performers Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande.
“We have all the time been conscious of the eventuality of obligatory military service, and now we have lengthy been making preparations to be prepared for this moment,” Park wrote. “In the quick time period, particular person actions for a number of of the members are deliberate into the primary half of 2023, and now we have secured content material upfront, which will allow BTS to proceed their engagement with followers for the foreseeable future.”
The announcement got here after Lee Ki Sik, commissioner of the Military Manpower Administration, instructed lawmakers this month that it might be “fascinating” for BTS members to fulfil their military duties to make sure equity within the nation’s military service.
After enlisting, Jin and different BTS members will obtain 5 weeks of fight coaching earlier than being assigned to particular items and duties, in keeping with officers on the Military Manpower Administration, who harassed that the singers would go below the identical course of as different South Korean males.
While South Korea’s military for years had assigned enlisted entertainers to duties associated to producing radio and TV materials selling the military, the “leisure soldier” system was retired in 2013 following complaints over equity.
Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup mentioned in August that if BTS members be a part of the military, they might probably be allowed to proceed practising and to hitch with the group for excursions abroad.
Whether the BTS members should serve within the military had been a hotly debated subject in South Korea as Jin confronted attainable enlistment early subsequent yr. Jin turns 30 in December, the age at which males can not delay enlistment. Other members are at the moment between 25 and 29 years previous, with Suga turning 30 in March.
Under South Korean legislation, most able-bodied males are required to carry out 18-21 months of military service, however particular exemptions had been granted for athletes and artists who excel in sure worldwide competitions which have been tied to nationwide status.
The band – its different members being J-Hope, RM, Jungkook, V and Jimin – launched in 2013 and has a legion of worldwide supporters who name themselves the “Army.”
After constructing an enormous following in Asia, BTS expanded its reputation within the West with its 2020 megahit “Dynamite,” the band’s first all-English tune that made it the primary Ok-pop act to high Billboard’s Hot 100. The band has carried out in sold-out arenas around the globe and was even invited to talk at United Nations conferences.
Since South Korea’s draft interrupts younger males of their skilled careers or research, the dodging of military duties or creation of exemptions is a extremely delicate subject. Opinion surveys in latest weeks confirmed that the general public was cut up over whether or not the BTS members ought to serve within the military.