BTS Jin enlisted into the military on Tuesday, December 12,. He will be serving for the next 18 months, until he comes back in June 2024.

BTS has grown a lot during the last few years of them being an active group. They have become the biggest boy group in the world while still bringing in a new sound and language to the western media.

So why do they have to enlist in the military? All South Korean men born in Korea are required to enlist by the age of 28. They must serve for the minimum of 18 months. If you don’t enlist, you have a chance of going to prison or being kicked out of the country. They mostly serve due to the ongoing threats the North Korean government makes to South Korea. Only classical musicians or athletes don’t have to serve, as well as men with medical reasons. Idols (singers and other performance artists) and actors don’t fall under this category.

Around 2020, the Korean government created the “BTS Law,” which allowed K-pop idols to get their military service postponed if they have gotten a “South Korean Hwagwan orders of Cultural Merit” awarded, which is an award given by the president of South Korea for promoting the national culture. This was awarded to BTS in December of 2016.

On October 17, BigHit (BTS company) announced Jin of BTS is enlisting into the military around December and in the same statement they had put out an enlistment plan for the rest of the group. They plan to come back together in 2025.

This means we will probably get 2-3 years or more without BTS music. Jungkook, the youngest member, will be 28 in 2025. Many fans are disappointed, but understanding to see the boys go.

One of the most shocking parts of the enlistment, is many are worried about the state of the Korean economy. BTS has also brought the new wave of K-pop to the western market with an increase of tourism in South Korea. It is estimated that 760,000 tourists visit South Korea annually.

BTS has also improved the BOP (consumer goods) between China and Korea. Korean entertainment has also focused on pushing other acts to the West and Europe, as the Korean entertainment market had been pushing towards the Chinese market until the ban in 2016 of THAAD.

Their influence has also increased the learning of the Korean culture and language as most of BTS’s music is mostly Korean and music videos have many culture references. This makes many fans want to learn the language and understand the culture with them taking online Korean classes and to do research on the culture, even watch movies, TV shows, to understand some of the modern culture.

But BTS has done many solo activities in the past few months, with J-hope putting out his album Jack in the Box a hip-hop album with an alternative rock sound, Rm putting out his album Indigo, with a big Western artist. Jin put out a single, “Astronaut,” with Coldpay before entering the military. Jungkook has also put out a photobook and has made a song for the World Cup, even performing it at Qatar. The members will still be working on their music and keeping up with new events until 2025.

The BTS fandom is one of the biggest and strongest, so the hiatus will not affect them as much. The members individually will keep their fans satisfied with releases and promotional schedules, and the fans will keep up with the memes. Hybe already has plans to debut a new Japanese boy group this year and TXT is set to have a comeback in the beginning of next year, with the girl group New Jeans.