Today marks the 24th birthday of Jeon Jungkook, but he’ll always be ARMYs’ little one. (In Korea, everyone gets a year added to their Korean age on New Year’s Day. His international age is actually 23.) Dubbed the “Golden Maknae” of BTS, he’s known for being good at a lot of things and being the epitome of the “I’m baby” meme as the youngest member of the group. Even though he does 240 push-ups a day, you can’t help but want to protect and offer him a glass of milk.
To celebrate Jungkook Day, we rounded up a list of moments that had us gushing over him. Feel free to coo at Koo along with us (respectfully, of course!).
When he’s being goofy for a photo or video
It’s tradition for BTS members to post funny videos and pictures of a member celebrating their birthday. Even though we’ve been getting less of these, Jimin delivered with three for his Twitter greeting early today.
Not one to shy away from being goofy on camera, Jungkook has quite a collection of giggle-worthy shots that you can find on BTS’ account. There’s a video of him performing an exaggerated routine that looks like a cross between interpretative and Latin dance. There’s a photo of him looking super buff after he blasted a hairdryer into the sleeves of his collared top. Not necessarily funny but certainly cute is a photo of RM playing Pokemon Go and having his dongsaeng (younger sibling or friend in Korean) mimic Geodude.
When he gifts song covers to ARMYs
ARMYs are eagle-eyed (probably after years of trying to keep up with the details from the Bangtan Universe). So, yes, a lot of us have noticed that Jungkook leaves messages through the links for the cover songs he uploads. The most recent one being a cover of “10,000 Hours” which had “10 000 Hours with ARMY” on the link.
His solo song “Still With You” simply had “thank you ARMY 2020” while the link of his cover of Roy Kim’s “Only Then” only stated that it’s a song for ARMY. They’re tiny details but they still had us go, “Awww.”
When he shows us his cute habits
It can be hard to convince non-ARMYs that being cute is Jungkook’s specialty because he looks so dashing and cool on their music videos. Lucky for us, Twitter user byuljjk has compiled his habits into a video as primary evidence.
Watch as he talks to inanimate objects in a pouty voice, covers his nose instead of his mouth when he yawns, and does a little happy dance while scrunching his nose when he’s excited. It’s all just so endearing.
When he gives heartfelt messages
During BTS’ early years, Jungkook was pretty shy and he didn’t speak as much as the other members on camera. He often got flustered when asked to give a message to fans too. Recently, though, he’s been more open about how he feels. s’
After their Saturday Night Live performance last year, he went on V LIVE to thank his fans. He addressed ARMYs on the livestream saying, “You are the basis of my life. You make the path for me. You are making the path that I’m walking on right now. Thank you, my guide, my everything.”
When he uploads Golden Closet Films
Generous king Jungkook has been uploading videos that he takes, directs and edits all on his own. The first Golden Closet Film, a travel vlog series starring BTS members, he shared was “G.C.F. in Tokyo” which was shot with Jimin on their trip to Japan. In the video, he takes us with him as they go shopping, eat dinner and visit Disneyland. As idols, BTS often has cameras following them around so it’s pretty cool that Jungkook still chose to share bits of his private life and his bond with his hyungs (older brother or friend in Korean).
Our personal favorite from the series is “G.C.F. in Helsinki” which featured all seven members with moody “To Each His Own” playing in the background. There’s a hilarious scene where Jimin, J-hope and Jin are play-fighting and it suddenly cuts to black with Jungkook saying, “Sorry.” We bet he could make a killing as a vlogger or filmmaker.
What’s your favorite Jungkook moment?
Art by Dana Calvo
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