BTS is Meeting the Real Army
On October 17th, a horrifying yet anticipated message shattered the hearts of the Kpop community. After being granted a 2 year extension, the oldest member of BTS, Jin, must finally embark on the journey of serving his country.
Since 1957, South Korea has made it mandatory for able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 28 (20-30 in Korean age, as babies are counted as 1 years old when they’re born) to serve in the military for eighteen to twenty one months. BTS’s Jin, however, was granted a two year extension thanks to a revision within the law that was made in 2020. This revision allowed pop culture artists who were awarded an Order of Cultural Merits (an award for outstanding services in culture and the arts in the interest of promoting national culture and development) to postpone their draft.
Enlisting has always been one of the hardest challenges to overcome for Kpop idols, as many work in groups. However, groups often contain members from different age groups. For example, the oldest member of BTS is 29 whereas the youngest is 25. This creates an issue of whether groups should all enlist at the same time, or leave one by one, softening the blow on their fans. EXO, another male Kpop group, chose to enlist separately: Xiumin, then D.O, then Suho, and now Chen, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun have enlisted in the military, leaving Kai and Sehun’s enlistment coming soon. Because of their separate enlistment, members were able to join other groups (SuperM for Kai and Baekhyun) or become solo artists. Although this method does allow the idols to continue interacting with their fans for longer, there has been a noticeable decrease in popularity of the group that was once known as one of the “Big 3” in Kpop.
BTS, however, has chosen the route of enlisting at similar times and reconnecting in 2025 as a whole. Before the announcement of their enlistment, there had been a debate over whether BTS should be completely exempt from drafting, as they contribute massively to South Korea’s economy and culture. As brand ambassadors of many Korean brands such as Samsung, Hyundai, and Seoul Tourism, they reportedly bring in $5 billion annually to South Korea’s economy. This raises the question of whether it is worth it because of the potential damage to the South Korean economy, should BTS enlist.
During a livestream in June of 2022, there was a mistranslation of BTS’s potential hiatus that led HYBE’s (BTS’s parent company) stocks to drop by 22.8% or $1.7 billion . Not only did this mistranslation affect HYBE, it also caused investors to pull out of other major Kpop companies including YG, SM, and JYPE. Despite this push for full exemption of their military service, BTS has consistently stated that they wish to give back to their country and serve as any other citizen.
Although many members of “ARMY” (BTS’s fans) have anticipated this day to come, there is still hope for their return. However, many people also speculate that the enlistment will be the downfall of BTS’s popularity. Personally, however, I believe that based on their overwhelming popularity, their next comeback will be their most anticipated one yet. BTS’s power and influence will go down in history, for their ability to not only change South Korea’s influence on the world, but to also shine light on Asian cultures. ARMYs mustn’t be afraid of this change, for just like BTS’s most recent comeback, their best is “Yet To Come,” and they must only be willing to wait for it.
BY VIVIAN LIN