Entertainment

Actions

BTS member Jin begins military duty at front-line boot camp

South Korea BTS
Posted at 12:22 PM, Dec 13, 2022
and last updated 2022-12-13 12:22:57-05

Jin, the oldest member of the K-pop supergroup BTS, has begun his 18 months of mandatory military service at a front-line South Korean boot camp.

Dozens of fans and journalists gathered near the base, but Jin didn't meet them as a vehicle carrying him entered the camp without him getting out.

On Tuesday morning, Jin wrote on an online fan platform, Weverse, that “it’s time for a curtain call."

Six other members of BTS, the world’s biggest boy band, are to join the military over the next few years.

ABC News reported that men between 18 and 30 must serve between 18 and 21 months in the country's military service.

According to the news outlet, in December 2020, the maximum age limit was raised from 28 to 30 after South Korea's National Assembly passed a bill that allowed the band members to put off enlisting in the military until they were 30.

In early October, the country's lawmakers were scrambling to find an answer on whether or not the members of BTS be forced to serve in South Korea's military.

On Oct. 17, the band's management company announced that Jin had revoked his request to delay his conscription.

Jin's announcement came after the commissioner of the Military Manpower Administration told lawmakers this month that they'd want the global K-pop stars to serve because it would ensure fairness.

The band's management agency has said the group will reconvene around 2025.