BTS member Jin will start military service next month

BTS member Jin is scheduled to begin his mandatory military service on December 13 this year.

South Korean newspaper Aju Business Daily confirmed the news on Thursday (November 24), citing unnamed military authorities.

Jin, who will turn 30 on Dec. 4, will be assigned to a unit after five weeks of training at the boot camp, the newspaper reported.

Spokespersons for BTS agency HYBE and the South Korean Defense Ministry declined to confirm the report.

In a social media post last week, Jin hinted that he was on his way to a “frontline” position.

Last month, BTS’ management company, Big Hit Music, announced that all BTS members will be fulfilling their mandatory military duties under South Korean law for the next few years.

The company added that the band’s oldest member, Jin, will rescind his request to defer his draft at the end of the month and will take the necessary steps to draft.

Six other members — Jung Kook, Jimin, V, Suga, RM and j-Hope — also plan to serve in the military, according to the company’s filing with the financial regulator.

In September, the mayor of Busan asked the South Korean president to exempt BTS from conscription so they could support the city’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo.

Park Heong-joon told President Yoon Suk-yeol that “without solving the military service issue, BTS’s active promotion of Busan’s bid for the Expo may be impossible.”

However, during a conference in the National Assembly on Sept. 19, South Korea’s Defense Minister Suh Wook said it was “difficult” to expand this alternative program to BTS “due to “justice issues in fulfilling conscription.”

South Korea’s Military Service Law stipulates that “all able-bodied males of Korean nationality must be in active military service for 18 to 22 months.”

Additional reporting by agencies