Wearing a uniform and black beret, Jin, the oldest member of K-pop phenomenon BTS, was discharged from South Korea’s army on Wednesday after 18 months of duty. He is the first member of the group to wrap up the mandatory national service that put their music careers on hold.
The 31-year-old appeared emotional as he hugged his colleagues at a military base in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi province, television footage showed.
“I cried during the ceremony,” Jin said later during a livestream which racked up over 3 million views on the Weverse fandom platform.
“But it was so fun for the last year and six months. It’s such a relief I met so many good people,” he added, sending regards to his colleagues at the military base.
South Korean media reported several other members of the septet who are currently serving in the military applied for leave to celebrate the occasion.
Among them was rapper RM, who greeted Jin with a saxophone to play the group’s hit single “Dynamite.”
Jin became the first member of the group to enlist in the military in December 2022. The final four members of the group began their service in December 2023, with the band expected to reunite in 2025 after they all complete their duty.
Jin plans to celebrate his discharge with an event in Seoul on Thursday where he will greet fans and stage a performance. BTS’ label Hybe, which is putting on the event at the Jamsil Sports Complex, has selected 1,000 fans who will get to hug the star.
BTS have become worldwide superstars since debuting in 2013, earning No. 1 singles in more than 100 countries, gaining more than 74 million followers on Instagram and being awarded Time magazine’s Entertainer of the Year award in 2020.
In 2022, the group visited the White House and spoke about Asian representation as well as anti-Asian hate crimes, which surged in the US during the pandemic.
Beyond music, BTS members are bankable fashion icons.
In 2021, Louis Vuitton named the group brand ambassadors and dressed them in complementary suits for the 64th Grammy Awards the next year. Suga and Jimin have starred in Valentino and Dior campaigns respectively. Dior’s artistic director Kim Jones designed custom stage outfits for their 2019 tour.
South Korea requires all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 28 to serve between 18 to 21 months in the military or social service, but it revised the law in 2020 to let globally recognized K-pop stars delay signing up until age 30.