- 'Evacuate now, now, now': Florida braces for next hurricane
- US Supreme Court skeptical of challenge to 'ghost guns' regulation
- Sparks fly as Orban berates EU 'elites' in parliament trip
- US finalizes rule to remove lead pipes within a decade
- Solanke hungry for second England cap after seven-year wait
- Gilded canopy restored at Vatican basilica
- Zverev scrapes through, Djokovic cruises to Shanghai Masters last 16
- Trump secretly sent Covid tests to Putin: Bob Woodward book
- Gauff answers critics: 'It's hard to win all the time'
- Neural networks, machine learning? Nobel-winning AI science explained
- China says raised 'serious concerns' with US over trade curbs
- Boeing delivers 27 MAX jets in September despite strike
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of other sex crimes
- Italy seek Nations League consistency as Germany continue rebuild
- From boom to budgeting as reality bites for Saudi football
- Stock markets diverge as Hong Kong sinks, oil prices fall
- US trade gap narrowest in five months as imports slip
- Stay and 'you are going to die': Florida braces for next hurricane
- England 96-1 after Salman's century lifts Pakistan to 556
- Hollywood star Idris Elba champions African cinema in Ghana
- Djokovic rolls Cobolli to make Shanghai Masters last 16
- Milan's Hernandez receives two-game suspension after referee rant
- Geoffrey Hinton, soft-spoken godfather of AI
- Ex-Barcelona and Spain great Iniesta retires aged 40
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for 'foundational' AI breakthroughs
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China slaps provisional tariffs on EU brandy imports
- Ex-skipper Skelton eyes Wallabies November return
- Spanish great Iniesta leaves indelible legacy after retirement
- Indian Kashmir elects first regional government in a decade
- Hong Kong stocks crash, oil prices retreat on fading China boost
- Man City accuse Premier League of 'misleading' claims after legal case
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for key breakthroughs in AI
- Agha defies England as Pakistan post 515-8 in first Test
- September second-warmest on record: EU climate monitor
- Pastor wanted by US for sex trafficking to run for Philippine senate
- Mozambican writer Mia Couto dreams future leaders set an 'example'
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free soon after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China says to take anti-dumping measures against EU brandy imports
- German suspect in 'Maddie' case cleared in separate sex crimes trial
- Israel expands offensive against Hezbollah in south Lebanon
- China stocks rally fizzles on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- Bangladesh's Yunus says no elections before reforms
- England strike twice as Pakistan reach 397-6 at lunch in first Test
- China stocks rally peters out on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- Taiwan's Foxconn says building world's largest 'superchip' plant
- Kenya's deputy president faces impeachment vote
- N. Korean soldiers 'highly likely' killed in Ukraine: Seoul
- 'Appeals Centre' to referee EU social media disputes
- US Supreme Court to hear 'ghost guns' regulation case
CMSC | -0.06% | 24.555 | $ | |
RBGPF | -0.46% | 60.52 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.55% | 24.926 | $ | |
SCS | -0.19% | 12.925 | $ | |
BTI | -0.16% | 35.145 | $ | |
NGG | 0.57% | 65.855 | $ | |
AZN | -0.29% | 76.65 | $ | |
RIO | -4.77% | 66.45 | $ | |
GSK | -1.54% | 38.045 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.29% | 6.97 | $ | |
RELX | 1.02% | 46.515 | $ | |
VOD | -0.26% | 9.665 | $ | |
BCE | -0.8% | 33.265 | $ | |
BCC | -0.03% | 141.23 | $ | |
JRI | 0.2% | 13.206 | $ | |
BP | -3.75% | 31.942 | $ |
Jin from BTS begins military service, marking end of an era
BTS star Jin starts his mandatory South Korean military duty on Tuesday, the band's first member to enlist since a hiatus announcement this year left fans heartbroken over the K-pop juggernaut's uncertain future.
The septet is widely considered the country's biggest-ever cultural phenomenon -- selling out stadiums around the world and dominating the charts while raking in billions and building a global legion of fans known as ARMYs.
But all able-bodied men in South Korea must serve at least 18 months in the military, and while there was a years-long debate about whether BTS deserved an exemption, they confirmed in October that all members will enlist.
Jin -- whose full name is Kim Seok-jin -- will begin five weeks of training on Tuesday, the military said.
Yonhap news agency reported the star is expected to be deployed to a "frontline" unit near the border with North Korea, with which South Korea remains technically at war.
"We ask you to keep your heart-warming words of support and farewell in your hearts," BTS's label Big Hit Music told fans last week, urging them to stay away from the families-only entrance ceremony.
Fans were stunned in June when the group revealed that it was going on hiatus, citing exhaustion and pressure as well as the desire to pursue solo careers.
But analysts said the announcement was strategically timed because of the compulsory military duty.
The group will reunite around 2025, when its seven members have completed their service.
"For a while, it's true that there were many fans who would spend days just crying," a South Korean fan, who runs the Twitter account @5heterotopia, told AFP.
Nimah Mustafa, a 20-year-old fan in Dubai, added: "(Jin's absence) will be like a huge... void for me."
South Korea exempts some elite athletes, such as Olympic medallists, and classical musicians from duty, but pop stars do not qualify.
However, BTS have already benefited from a 2020 revision to the conscription law that raised the enlistment deadline for some entertainers from age 28 to 30.
Jin, the oldest member of BTS, turned 30 on December 4.
- 'They won't be forgotten' -
The seismic changes for BTS in 2022 have sparked feverish speculation among fans and K-pop watchers about what the future holds for the group -- will they retain their fame or struggle to revive that success?
Some male K-pop stars have struggled to resume their careers after military service in a cut-throat industry where artists are easily replaceable.
"For the K-pop industry, the retreat of BTS will be a big deal," Lee Taek-gwang, a communications professor at Kyung Hee University, told AFP.
"During the absence, they could lose public interest, and the decline in popularity will damage their business. It would not be easy for the boy band to reunite."
However, other experts have pointed to the massive success of BTS and said they will be an exception to that trend.
They "obtained another level of popularity, influence and credibility", said Lee Ji-young, a BTS expert and professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
"So they won't be forgotten by other artists in a highly competitive K-pop industry," she told AFP.
Since their debut in 2013, BTS have been widely credited with doing more than any diplomat or other celebrity to boost the image and soft power of South Korea, today considered a global cultural powerhouse.
They have been invited to speak at the United Nations, and to meet US President Joe Biden at the White House. They are also official ambassadors to bring the 2030 World Expo to Busan, South Korea.
The South Korean government has credited BTS with bringing billions of dollars into the economy.
- 'Frontline' deployment? -
But despite that success, a draft proposal to grant them service exemptions proved too controversial and never made it through parliament.
"In South Korea, the military service is the indicator of egalitarianism... (where) all men are equal," Lee at Kyung Hee University told AFP, adding that it was a "necessary" symbol of citizenship.
Jin will reportedly join a "frontline" unit stationed near the border with North Korea.
"It shows the role of culture, and public opinion, in shaping international affairs. Is this 'frontline' role a combat role, or is it about public relations and media?" Sarah Keith, a senior lecturer in media and music at Macquarie University, told AFP.
Jin bid farewell to thousands of tearful fans in Buenos Aires in October when he performed his new song "The Astronaut" with Coldplay.
On Monday, he posted a photo of himself with military-style cropped hair on the South Korean social media platform Weverse, with the caption: "It's cuter than I expected."
P.Martin--AMWN