BTS Is Still ‘Very Much Expected’ To Spend 18 Months In South Korean Army

While the K-pop supergroup BTS has been able to postpone going off for their home country’s required military service commitment for several years now, it is clear that the band is still not off the hook for that, and will have to take a year-and-a-half hiatus at some point to fulfill it.

Gunn Kim, the South Korean ambassador to Britain called the group “role models” and told The Sunday Times that he is “sure they will fulfill their obligation to society.” Tensions between North and South Korea have been rising recently, as North Korea claimed to have tested a powerful long-range Hwasong-17 missile with the potential of holding nuclear warheads last month. The nature of the specific missile tested has been disputed since, but officials on both sides have been threatening swift responses should the other side attack first.

South Korean men between the ages of 18 and 28 are required to participate in military service for a minimum of 18 months. BTS’s most obsessed fans will know that some of its members are over the age of 28 by now and still haven’t completed their required conscription. This is because they were granted extra time to soak in their fame in 2020 when South Korea’s national assembly passed the “BTS Law,” which specifically allowed the band members to delay their service until the age of 30. This also caused some controversy at the time with the country being criticized for favoring celebrity citizens.

Band members Jin and Suga are currently 29, with Jin turning 30 in December, so the window is closing quickly for some of them. There is still no official word on how the band will be handling its members’ enlistments. If the older members enlist sooner than younger ones such as 24-year-old Jung-Kook, for example, it will take longer than the minimum 18 months to see BTS together again.