BTS confirms military enlistment and fans are laughing through the tears
After years of speculation, K-pop group BTS has finally confirmed that they’ll be enlisting in the military and fans are, understandably, really going through it.
“BIGHIT MUSIC is proud to announce today that the members of BTS are currently moving forward with plans to fulfill their military service,” read the agency statement posted on Weverse.
Group members RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook have been pursuing solo projects after taking a break from group activities. However, they reunited for a free concert in Busan on Saturday, October 15 to support Busan’s bid for the World Expo 2030.
[#오늘의방탄] 변화는 많았지만 변함은 없는 우리🥰 오랜만에 하는 함성 공연이라니🥺 너무 보고 싶었고, 오늘 너무 즐거웠어요 아미! 보라해💜
#BTS #방탄소년단 #BTSARMY #YetToComeInBUSAN #보라해 pic.twitter.com/RgSHJ4cORb— BTS_official (@bts_bighit) October 15, 2022
“As each individual embarks on solo endeavours, it’s the perfect time and the members of BTS are honoured to serve,” continued the statement, adding that “there’s much more yet to come in the years ahead from BTS.”
The group is expected to reconvene around 2025.
BTS fans (also known as ARMY) have long been waiting for the news but that doesn’t mean they’re not emotional about it — and they’re using humour to cope.
Imagine becoming an army after the Busan expo concert 😂😂😂🫵🫵
— jade military wife era🍓⁷ (@0UTR0EG0) October 17, 2022
me waiting for my sevens husbands to return whilst fulfilling my duties as a military wife pic.twitter.com/WZbwb1HRrT
— shannon⁷ (@ENCHANTIINGTAe) October 17, 2022
Fans joked about how the long wait times for their merch have prepared them for this very moment.
of course we can wait till 2025. we’ve waited for our weverse packages to ship for much longer than that 😆
— dessy⁷ ✨ (@Dessytothemax) October 17, 2022
Some fans imagined how V (Kim Taehyung), one of the fashion-conscious members, will handle being in the military…
… and if he’ll have enough pillows.
i need to make sure they’ll give 3 pillows to taehyung in the military because he can’t sleep without them so this is extremely important
— lau⁷ (@jvnggkuk) October 17, 2022
And when it comes to Jungkook, one of the most physically fit members, who exactly will be training whom?
he gonna have those military officers doing shit like this pic.twitter.com/1qiNdhwali
— shannon⁷ (@ENCHANTIINGTAe) October 17, 2022
After all but one BTS member revealed their matching “7” tattoos, others are reminding fans to focus on what truly matters:
Don’t let this military enlistment news distract us from the fact that we still don’t know where yoongi got his 7 tattoo
— T. (@Toluwafemi_) October 17, 2022
On the other hand, with BTS in the military, some fans are choosing to see the silver lining after taking a break from buying merch and concert tickets.
armys in 2025 after saving for 2 years pic.twitter.com/d76f944vFi
— cleo⁷ (@seesaw__yoongi) October 17, 2022
And if they’re really missing their K-pop idols, there’s a lot of BTS content and the group’s reality shows to get through:
there are 797 bangtan bomb, 156 run episodes, 32 bon voyage episodes and 13 in the soop episodes for a total of 998 videos/episodes so if you watch 1 per day for 3 years you’ll feel like bts never left
— jungkook thinker (@hrIykoo) October 17, 2022