Your prayers have been answered, ARMYs! It looks like Jin, a.k.a. Mr. Worldwide Handsome, is still here to stay.
On Dec. 1, South Korea’s National Assembly passed a revision of the Military Service Act, dubbed as the “BTS military service amendment,” that allows artists honored by the Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism to defer their military enlistment. The act initially required all able-bodied men (including K-drama actors and K-pop artists) to render mandatory military service for 20 months before they turned 28 years old. This means that their education and careers will be put on hold while they’re enlisted which can become heartbreaking for their fans. Some exemptions have been Olympic athletes and classical musicians who’ve contributed to promoting South Korean culture.
ARMYs have been concerned about the momentum of the member’s careers, considering their global success in the past years.
The recent revision of the law allows K-pop entertainers who received government medals for their international achievements to apply for a postponement of their service until they turn 30 years old. All seven members of BTS received medals in 2018 and so are qualified to defer their enlistment. The K-pop sensation’s eldest member Kim Seok-Jin, who will be turning 28 years old this Friday, Dec. 4, was expected to enlist soon until the news broke. This means that he now has a couple more years to continue performing during what the New York Times dubs as “the height of his career.”
The boys recently made history for being the first K-pop group to earn a nomination for the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in the 63rd Grammy awards. And earlier today, Billboard announced that the group became the first to top the charts Artist 100, Hot 100 and Billboard 200 at the same time. Their hit single “Life Goes On” became the first track predominantly sung in Korean to rule the Hot 100 chart in 62 years.
While we stream “Be” in celebration of a possible couple more years with OT7 BTS (depending on their decision, of course), this is good news for stans of other boy groups who’ve been making it big in the global market, too. Come on, Hallyu wave.
Photo screengrabbed from the “Life Goes On” music video
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