Decision on BTS Military Enlistment in December

There has been a lot of debate and confusion over the issue of BTS military services, as many of them are turning 30 this year. 

For those who joined in late, as per South Korean government rules, it is mandatory for every male born in the country to serve the nation in the military at least for 20 months before they turn 30. 

With BTS Jin turning 30 this year, fans urged the govt not to enlist the BTS Idols in the military services. They asked them to allow the K pop icons to serve the country as idols. 

For several days now, there have been discussions on their military enlistment and the South Korean Parliament is yet to take a decision if the BTS members will serve in the military or not?

On Wednesday, it was announced that a decision regarding the same will be made before the end of the year.

On October 5, Park Bo Kyun of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) attended the National Assembly’s parliamentary inspection of the administration and promised that the resolution to the discussion surrounding BTS’s military service will be decided by December 2022.

During the parliamentary audit, People Power Party member Lee Yong Ho asked Minister Park to review the issue of BTS’s military service. Minister Park responded as quoted by Soompi, “Member Jin’s enlistment is set to be sorted out by December, but the MCST will finalize our stance before that.”

Minister Park added, “We are comprehensively reviewing the issue by looking at various aspects including the points that national defense is a sacred duty, military service is a symbol of fairness, BTS has made Korea known as the vanguard of K-culture and created a huge economic ripple effect. There are equity issues between popular artists including BTS and those who practice fine arts. This will affect the group when one of the BTS members joins the army. There are [results of] public opinion analysis and opinions of men in their 20s, and so on.”

So finally, there will be some clarity coming in for the BTS ARMY on their Idols' military enlistment.