BTS, the band group that has already attained 18 Guinness World records, must go to the army. They may enlist in the military together next year i.e. 2022. Big Hit Music has broken its silence on this matter and confirmed their enlistment. They are given concessions this year. Jin had said,” Someday when duty calls, we will be ready to respond and do our best.” Though it broke the hearts of many fans, joining the military is inevitable.
Can they be excused?
BTS, BangTan Sonyeondan meaning “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”, is a seven-member South-Korean boy band that debuted under Big Hit Entertainment. BTS has more than 30.9 million followers who call themselves Army. They have captivated the hearts of many people with their mesmerizing voices and handsome faces.
Every man in the country with ages between 18-28 should join the military for 18-22 months. Lining up the BTS members by age, their sequence to enroll will be Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook. Jin, who has turned 28 last year, should have gone, but he has enrolled in an online graduate program which gave him the concession. Meanwhile, Jeon Yong-gi, co-sponsor of the bill, said, “Pop artists tend to make their highest achievements in their 20s but many of them had to pursue a graduate degree to delay their service.”
According to the new law of the South Korean Ministry of National Defense, exceptional and outstanding individuals in arts and culture especially record-breaking who are taking the South Korean culture on the global level can postpone their mandatory military service to age 30. This may help Jin to delay his enlistment to the end of 2022. But, it still could not make them not attend.
Yoo Seong Min, an analyst at Leading Investment and Securities, has said,” I expect that the BTS members will enlist together by mid-2022. Because of the pre-production of content such as an album prior to their enlistment, there will only be roughly a one-year gap. BTS is at the world-star level similar to Michael Jackson or The Beatles, so they can continue to generate hits and profit even after serving in the military.”
He also said,” HYBE has a solid lineup of both Korean and foreign artists to fill in the gap during BTS’s military enlistment. SEVENTEEN is next in line to follow in the K-Pop boy group genealogy, after BIGBANG-EXO-BTS. They also hold a strong Korean lineup of NU’EST, TXT, ENHYPEN, and GFRIEND. In addition, with the recent merger and acquisition of Ithaca Records, they now also have Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande under their label. Starting from the third quarter of 2021 and through 2022, HYBE and their music subsidiaries are planning to debut at least 5 new idol groups, both male and female.
HYBE will also establish an absolute position in the entertainment industry through Weverse, and leap to the position of a global enterprise platform. It is expected that YG Entertainment artists, including BLACKPINK, will also be able to notice the effect of joining HYBE’s Weverse.”
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