(Yeoncheon) Jin, the eldest of the phenomenon group BTS, began his compulsory military service in South Korea on Tuesday, leaving millions of fans dejected and the K-pop industry in doubt about the future of the boyband.
The first South Korean group to top the US and UK charts, multiple Grammy nominees and a global fan base, BTS have generated billions of dollars in revenue since their debut in 2013.
The announcement in October of the departure under the flags of Jin had recorded the separation, at least temporary, of the septet.
In South Korea, military service is compulsory for all able-bodied men for a minimum of 18 months. Jin, who turned 30 on December 4, is the first to do so, but the other six BTS members will have to go too.
Jin, whose full name is Kim Seok-jin, will do his classes for five weeks before joining his final unit. The media claim that he will be assigned “on the front line”, that is to say near the border with North Korea.
Hundreds of journalists and BTS fans gathered on Tuesday at the entrance to the Yeoncheon training camp, not far from the border, 40 km north of Seoul. A convoy of vehicles, one of which was believed to be carrying the launch, passed through the gate of the camp, topped by a sign touting it as “a breeding ground for first-class combat soldiers”, twenty minutes before 2 p.m. East), the arrival time limit imposed on new recruits.
“We have mixed feelings today because on the one hand, it’s normal for him to be incorporated, because it’s an obligation anyway for any Korean,” said Véronique, a 32-year-old fan from from Indonesia. “But on the other hand, we won’t be able to see him for at least 18 months…I’m happy, but also sad, and proud, something like that”.
Jin joins the army at a time when inter-Korean relations are extremely tense, after a record series of weapons tests by Pyongyang.
BTS’s record company Big Hit Music had asked fans of Jin not to attend the singer’s induction ceremony, which is for families only.
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 from military service are granted to a few elite athletes, such as Olympic medalists, or to classical musicians. But not to pop stars.
Will BTS survive?
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, the oldest member of the group, turned 30 on December 4. The separation of the boy band had therefore been thought out 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?
“For the K-pop industry, BTS’s retirement is going to be a big deal,” Kyung Hee University communications professor Lee Taek-gwang told AFP. “During their absence, they could lose public interest and the decline in their popularity will harm their business. It will not be easy for the boy band to reunite after their enlistment,” he added.
But BTS will be an exception, say experts like Lee Ji-young, a BTS scholar and professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
The septet “got a whole new level of popularity, influence and credibility” and “will not be forgotten,” she predicts.
In more than nine years, many consider BTS to have done more than any diplomat or celebrity for South Korea’s global cultural outreach.
The group represented their country at the United Nations and met Joe Biden at the White House. He is also the official ambassador of Busan’s candidacy for the organization of the 2030 World Expo.
Egalitarianism Marker
Not enough, however, to escape military service. A bill to exempt BTS had been drafted, but it never passed through the doors of Parliament.
“In South Korea, military service is a marker of egalitarianism,” explains Lee Taek-gwang.
Jin’s possible posting near the border with North Korea is also symbolic, according to Macquarie University media and music lecturer Sarah Keith.
“It shows the role of culture, and public opinion, in shaping international relations. Is this role at the border a combat role, or a public and media relations role? »
On Monday, Jin posted a photo of himself showing off his new military haircut on South Korean social network WeVerse, captioning, “It’s cuter than I imagined! “.