BTS Starts Military Service

All seven members of the group are to fulfill their mandatory duties to South Korea - which ask all able-bodied men to serve for 18 to 21 months before their 31st birthday - with oldest member Jin set to be the first to enlist this month, ahead of his 30th birthday in December. An announcement from Big Hit Music stated: "He will then follow the enlistment procedure of the Korean government. "Other members of the group plan to carry out their military service based on their own individual plans. "Both the company and the members of BTS are looking forward to reconvening as a group again around 2025 following their service commitment."

 

The announcement was made on the band's social media pages in the wake of their free concert to support South Korea's World Expo bid in Busan on Saturday (15.10.22). The statement read: "BIG HIT MUSIC is proud to announce today that the members of BTS are currently moving forward with plans to fulfill their military service. "After the phenomenal concert to support Busan's bid for the World Expo 2030, and as each individual embarks on solo endeavors, it's the perfect time and the members of BTS are honored to serve. "Since the creation of BTS over ten years ago, the band has risen to international success, broken records, and catapulted K-Pop into the global stratosphere. "BIG HIT MUSIC has focused to the milestone moment when it would be possible to respect the needs of the country and for these healthy young men to serve with their countrymen, and that's now." It had been thought the group might be exempted from military service under plans put forward by South Korea's Culture, Sports and Tourism minister Hwang Hee, on the grounds they had already served their country through their huge global success, and other exceptional citizens, such as Olympians and classical musicians had been excused. However, the plan was met with opposition from many people who had completed their service and now appears to have been dropped.

BTS is coming to Disney Plus

BTS fans have quite a lot of content to look out for on Disney Plus. The streaming service has announced a collaboration with Hybe, BTS’s label, to bring what Disney describes as “five major content titles” to the platform. At least three of those titles are confirmed to feature BTS in some form.

 

The two exclusive projects include BTS: Permission to Dance On Stage LA, a 4K film of the band’s live performance at Sofi Stadium last November, and BTS Monuments: Beyond the Star, a docuseries about the band that’s said to feature “unprecedented access to a vast library of music and footage over the past nine years.” Also coming to Disney Plus is In The Soop: Friendcation, a travel reality show starring BTS member V and other entertainers, including Parasite’s Choi Wooshik, with whom the singer is famously close. The program will showcase the group “venturing on a surprise trip and enjoying a variety of leisure and fun activities,” per Disney. The title appears to be a spinoff of BTS In the Soop, a two-season reality show that followed BTS on remote vacations. (“Soop” is a play on 숲, the Korean word for “forest.”) Disney Plus has been steadily building its slate of Korean content over the past year, counting titles like Snowdrop among its most viewed content in Asia-Pacific markets. The company has stated that it hopes to greenlight “over 50 APAC Originals” by 2023.

BTS Is Going On Hiatus

The biggest boy band in the world, announcing they're going on hiatus. Shares of Hybe Company, the agency that manages the South Korean pop phenomenon BTS, plunged by a record after the band said they’ll focus on individual projects for a while. Hybe sank as much as 28% on Wednesday in Seoul, headed for its lowest close on record since its trading debut in October 2020 and wiping out as much as $1.7 billion in market value. The stock is down nearly 60% so far this year, significantly underperforming the broader equity benchmark amid uncertainties about the future of the BTS juggernaut. In the nine years since their debut BTS has racked up record-breaking hits and video views, including the fastest accumulation of No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 since Michael Jackson.

The group also became the first Asian group since 1963 to top Billboard’s all-genre Hot 100 chart with their English-language single “Dynamite.” At the end of May the seven members met with Joe Biden in the White House and spoke out against hate crimes. Bangtan Boys, more commonly called BTS, made the announcement to pursue solo projects in a video posted on YouTube, which has already got more than 10 million views. The singers said the time apart would be healthy for the band and urged fans not to view the development as negative. “I felt like I needed time to spend on my own,” the group’s leader RM said in the hour-long video, which features the band discussing past successes as well as each other’s quirks while sharing food and wine. “It’s not like we’re disbanding,” member Suga said. BTS will start a new chapter, carrying out their individual work as well as group activities, Hybe said in a statement, according to Yonhap News. Shares pared losses following the report. BTS is so huge that a government minister fretted that it would cause a “cultural loss for mankind” if the band had to suspend its work to enlist. Military service is mandatory for all men in South Korea, which is still technically at war with North Korea. The band’s oldest member Jin, 29, needs to sign up before the end of this year unless a related law is revised to allow for an exemption. Worries about the band’s future had battered the shares even before Wednesday’s plunge as the agency relies on the hitmaker for most of its sales. The slump means that Hybe has given up almost all of its gains since its trading debut. Hybe may face sharp downgrades to its profit and revenue estimates this year and next year, said Lee Hyein, an analyst at Yuanta Securities Korea Co. If Hybe confirms that BTS won’t resume concerts this year, its revenue for this year will likely be 25% lower than previously estimated, while its profit will be cut as much as 33%, Lee wrote in a note.

BTS Member’s Strengths And Weaknesses

The BTS members are officially “applying” for office jobs! As part of the 2021-2022 ARMY Membership Kit, the members went through the tedious process of filling out resumes (just for fun!) and included their strengths, weakness, career goals, and more. Check out what each member had to say about themselves below!
RM considers having no driver’s license both a strength and weakness. It certainly allows him to ride his bike more!
He also revealed he has a few other skills up his sleeve, including his knowledge of hanja and the game Kartrider.
Just like RM, Jin’s strength is also his weakness. He’s handsome and maybe he knows it a little too well!
For his qualifications, Jin chose his skill at the game Maple Story.

According to Suga, he has no strengths or weaknesses. However, in the eyes of ARMYs, his strengths are endless!
For skills, he has his driver’s license and passed his computer aptitude test!
It comes as no surprise that one of J-Hope’s many skills is his diligence when it comes to being on time. However, his weakness is getting easily tired.
J-Hope revealed his certifications are his knowledge of Cubase, a music production software, as well as his driver’s license!
Jimin has the confidence that he can finish all his assigned work well. However, he revealed his weakness is that he “might run away!”
According to him, he also has a “Professional Suga Handling License”  Something every ARMY has been studying hard for!
V has the great strength of being skilled at the art of meditation.
However, according to himself, that’s all he knows how to do!
Jungkook considers himself to be “simple,” which is both a strength and a weakness!
He’s also totally skilled at Premiere Pro, a video editing software, and is able to produce a variety of well-edited videos for Golden Closet Film.