His fans will have to get used to it: Jin will now use his full name Kim Seok-jin instead. The eldest of the phenomenon group BTS begins his compulsory military service in South Korea on Tuesday, leaving the K-pop industry in doubt as to the future of the boy band.
First South Korean group to dominate the American and British charts, several times nominated for the Grammy Awards, strong of a worldwide fan community… BTS has generated several billion dollars in revenue since its debut in 2013. The announcement in October of the enlistment of Jin in the army had recorded the separation, at least temporary, of the septet with more than 30 billion plays on Spotify.
Jin soon in a unit near the border with North Korea
In South Korea, military service is compulsory for all able-bodied men. With a minimum duration of 18 months, all members of BTS will submit to it, after years of debate around a possible exemption.
Jin will do his classes for five weeks before joining a unit “on the front line”, that is to say near the border with North Korea. He joins the army in a context of very tense inter-Korean relations, after a record series of arms tests by Pyongyang in recent months.
BTS’s label, Big Hit Music, has asked Jin’s fans not to attend the singer’s induction ceremony, which is reserved for families, on Tuesday. Fans of the boy band, dubbed the “BTS ARMY”, have been in shock since the June revelation of the group’s breakup. It will be able to reform around 2025, once all its members have served in the army.
Exemptions are granted to a few elite athletes, such as Olympic medalists, or to classical musicians. But not to pop stars. BTS had already benefited from a revision of the law of conscription which pushed back the age limit of enlistment from 28 to 30 years for certain artists. Jin celebrated his 30th birthday on December 4.
New haircut
The separation of the boy band had therefore been considered according to this obligation, according to specialists. But doubt hangs over the future of the flagship of K-pop: despite his incredible popularity, will he survive this hiatus? In this ultra-competitive sector, several male icons have indeed struggled to revive their careers after serving in the army.
While waiting for the answer, Jin said goodbye to thousands of tearful fans in Buenos Aires in October during a concert with Coldplay. On Monday, he posted a photo of himself showing off his new military haircut on South Korean social network WeVerse, captioning, “It’s cuter than I imagined!” “.