BTS member Jin goes to frontline boot camp for military duty: 6 points

Jin, the oldest member of K-pop supergroup BTS, is set to enter a frontline South Korean boot camp to start his 18 months of mandatory military service. Fans gathered near the base to say goodbye to their star, Associated Press reported. Six other younger BTS members are set to join the military in coming years one after another which means that South Korea’s most successful music band will take a hiatus, likely for a few years.

Here are top updates on this story:

1. BTS members' enlistments have prompted a fierce domestic debate over whether it’s time to revise the country’s conscription system to expand exemptions.

2. Big Hit Music said that both the company and the members of BTS “are looking forward to reconvening as a group again around 2025 following their service commitment.”

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3. Jin, who turned 30 earlier this month, is to enter the boot camp at Yeoncheon, a town near the tense border with North Korea, for five weeks of basic military training together with other new conscript soldiers.

4. After that training, he would be given a specific role and sent to a certain army unit, a process that all other conscripts go through.

5. “It’s time for a curtain call,” Jin wrote earlier on the online fan platform Weverse. He also posted a photo of himself with a military buzzcut and a message saying, “Ha ha ha. It’s cuter than I had expected.”

6. By law, all able-bodied South Korean men must serve in the military for 18-21 months. But the law gives special exemptions to athletes, classical and traditional musicians, and ballet and other dancers if they have won top prizes in certain competitions and enhance national prestige. K-pop stars and other entertainers aren’t given such benefits.