Singers RM and V of K-pop band BTS have begun their mandatory military duties under South Korean law, their management agency announced Monday. This came a day before two of their bandmates, Jimin and Jung Kook, also had to report for duty.
Three other BTS members – Jin, J-Hope and Suga – have already been in military service for months. The seven singers of the popular K-pop band plan to reunite as a group sometime in 2025 after they finish their service.
Jin and J-Hope serve in the military while Suga fulfills his duty as a social worker, an alternative form of military service.
According to HYBE, the band’s management company, RM and V arrived at an army boot camp in the central city of Nonsan to begin their mandatory 18-month service.
The company said Jimin and Jung Kook would enlist in the military together. It did not immediately confirm South Korean media reports that they would be at the boot camp on Tuesday.
“I am so happy to have been a part of BTS for the past ten years… Eighteen months can feel both long and short at the same time and I am sure this period will be a strange and new time of inspiration and learning for all of us,” said RM in a statement on his Instagram account. ‘See you in the future. I love you very much.”
RM and V receive five weeks of combat training before being assigned to specific units and tasks. The Military Manpower Administration has emphasized that the singers would go through the same process as other South Korean men who were conscripted.
Military service mandatory for most
Under South Korean law, most able-bodied men must complete 18 to 21 months of military service. Special exemptions are granted for athletes and classical artists who excel in certain types of international competitions related to national prestige. But such privileges do not extend to K-pop singers.
Last year, a fierce public debate flared over whether BTS members should continue their military services, with some politicians arguing that their artistic achievements merited an exception.
The discourse ended in October 2022 when their management company announced that all seven singers of the band intend to fully fulfill their military duties. In December, Jin became the first BTS member to enter the military after withdrawing his request for a draft deferral.
While the South Korean military has been accused in the past of giving preferential treatment to famous enlisted men, some people who served in recent years said they felt entertainers were going through the same rut as them.
Lee Yu Sung, a 31-year-old who received boot camp training from K-pop star Lee Seok-Hoon in 2013, said the singer of boy band SG WANNABE went through the same routine as the rest of the conscripts and got up at 6am. :30, receiving lectures on North Korea’s threats and training for battle. The conscripts marched 10 to 40 kilometers (approximately 6.2 to 24.8 miles) three times in full gear during their weeks of training.
At 29, Lee Seok-Hoon was several years older than most other conscripts, having postponed his service for years to accommodate his career. The law does not allow most South Korean men to postpone their military service after they turn 30.
“We had about five hours of free time before going to bed at 10pm. And because he had more life experience, Lee Seok-Hoon often told us what his life was like as a singer and also interesting stories about other celebrities, while trying to stay friendly with other soldiers who were younger,” he said. former conscript Lee Yu Sung.
A military instructor at the camp, who described himself as a fan of SG WANNABE, sometimes made Lee Seok-Hoon sing battle songs in front of other conscripts, Lee Yu Sung added. He said the singer, a devout Christian, also sang hymns during the Sunday service.
An ‘army’ of fans
K-pop and its stars have become a global phenomenon, especially after BTS formed in 2013. The band has a legion of global supporters who happen to call themselves the ‘Army’.
After gaining a huge following in Asia, BTS expanded its popularity in the West with its 2020 megahit “Dynamite,” the band’s first all-English song to top Billboard’s Hot 100. The band has performed in sold-out arenas worldwide and has even been invited to speak at United Nations meetings.
Young men drafted into the military are forced to put their studies or professional careers on hold, making mandatory military service in South Korea a highly sensitive issue that has sparked heated debates and even gender tensions in a hyper-competitive job market.