Any hint of avoiding military service could have been disastrous for the band, as South Koreans have a unforgiving history when it comes to draft dodgers.
“There’s a history in K-pop, of some K-pop stars trying to avoid military service… and have never been forgiven,” emeritus professor of music at SOAS, University of London, Keith Howard told Newsweek.
“BTS doesn’t want bad press, they have never wanted bad press. They’ve been superb at managing their image since 2012.”
Big Hit Music, the entertainment company which founded and manages BTS, confirmed its oldest member Jin, would start making preparations next month to complete his two-year stint in the South Korean army.
“BTS are currently moving forward with plans to fulfill their military service. After the phenomenal concert to support Busan’s bid for the World Expo 2030, and as each individual embarks on solo endeavors, it’s the perfect time and the members of BTS are honored to serve,” the music company wrote in a statement.
“BIGHIT MUSIC has focused to the milestone moment when it would be possible to respect the needs of the country and for these healthy young men to serve with their countrymen, and that’s now.”
All able-bodied men in the Republic of Korea between the ages of 18 and 35 are made to complete military service for anywhere between 18 and 21 months, with rare exceptions given to classical musicians, athletes and dancers who are perceived to enhance national prestige.
The members of BTS, including Jin, V, J-Hope, Suga, Jungkook, Jimin and RM have often spoken about their expectation to complete military service, knowing that even though Big Hit would press for an exemption, it was unlikely to be successful.
However the National Assembly voted in 2020 to allow a deferral to the age of 30 for “a pop culture artist who was recommended by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism to have greatly enhanced the image of Korea both within the nation and throughout the world.”
This became known as the BTS Law and allowed the group’s members to defer their army service until they were 30.
With Jin turning 30 in December, it was decided by the group and Big Hit to avoid requesting another deferral and that the rest of the group would complete their service based on their “individual plans.”
“Both the company and the members of BTS are looking forward to reconvening as a group again around 2025 following their service commitment,” Big Hit concluded the statement.
Big Hit was likely to stagger the remaining start dates of service for the other members, whose ages range from 25 to 29, so they could build their individual profiles and solo projects, including music and film.
This serves both Big Hit and BTS because they can continue to keep themselves in the spotlight as each member enlists and will still allow them to retain a strong public profile when the group comes together in 2025, according to Howard.
“If you think of BTS right from the beginning…each individual member has always had an individual and a very-well-developed persona,” he told Newsweek. “It’s not surprising that this is an opportunity to let the individuals go off and do individual work.”
Howard, who also teaches at at SOAS University of London’s center for Korean studies, was one of the first people outside of Korea to publish a book on K-pop in 2006: Korean Pop Music: Riding the Wave.
He explained the military service was an opportunity for Big Hit to reinvent the approach to BTS’ success as it was unlikely it would be able to maintain its current formula of success.
“They’ve been in the industry for so long now, far longer than virtually any other K-pop band you can mention, so it gives their management the chance to redirect their efforts and to move in a new direction rather than just keep the thing until it becomes stale,” the professor explained.
“I would read into the Big Hit announcement that, rather than anything about 2025. If it comes back together, essentially what’s the formula going to be to keep it incredibly popular?”
Howard also explained there was a “lot of mileage” into pushing the individual careers of each BTS member because in K-pop fandom, “a lot of fans are particularly interested in one or two of the idols [K-pop singers] rather than the whole group.”
He said he does not expect the BTS boys would receive special treatment once serving their mandatory time in the military and were unlikely to face real action.
“I don’t think they need special treatment,” Howard began, adding, “they will just get on with it basically and are unlikely to see any sort of significant acts of service.”
He explained the since the end of the Korean War, the area has been fairly stable “compared to many other borders and divisions”.
“So, yes, there’s a lot of sabre rattling and yes, a lot of troops are needed to police the border, let alone anything else. But it’s not necessarily a sort of dreadful assignment if you like,” Howard said of BTS’ likely experience in the army.
South Korea’s conscription began in 1957 after the end of the Korean war.
“There has never been a peace treaty following the Korean War, so North Korea and South Korea are still technically at war,” Howard explained.
“But South Korea has a government which is no longer interested in appeasing the North and therefore changing the military conscription is very, very unlikely.”
The draft is not as contentious as in other parts of the world, but South Korea “needs people in the military because the North is considered a threat,” according to Howard.
BTS is arguably the biggest K-pop band in history and of one of South Korea’s most successful cultural exports. It became the the first Asian group since 1963 to top Billboard’s Hot 100 chart with its debut English-language single “Dynamite” in 2020.
It earned the group its first Grammy nomination and the first ever for a K-pop group.
BTS has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide and was the first non-English and Asian group to perform sellout concerts at Wembley Stadium in London and the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
While most South Koreans do not frown upon army service, around 60 percent of people approved of giving an exemption to BTS, according to a public interest survey from April.
Even former South Korean Culture Minister Hwang Hee called for BTS to be made exempt.
In May, he said that it “would be a national loss” for BTS to serve in the army, and “suspend their activities due to the fulfillment of their military service obligations when their achievements in promoting national prestige and their skills are at their peak.”
