seoul.- J-Hope, a member of the well-known K-pop group BTS, arrived at an instruction camp on Tuesday to begin his mandatory military service and became the second member of the group to join the South Korean army.
A heated public debate ensued in 2022 over whether BTS members should receive special exemptions from military service, until the band’s management agency announced in October that its seven members would fulfill their obligation.
Jin, 30, the oldest member of BTS, became the first to enlist in the military in December and revoke his request to defer the draft.
Footage broadcast on South Korean television on Tuesday showed a black van likely carrying J-Hope to the training camp in Wonju, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) east of Seoul. Hybe Corp., the parent company of BTS’s Big Hit Music management agency, later confirmed that the 29-year-old singer had entered the field.
“I love you, army. I’ll see you again,” J-Hope, whose real name is Jung Ho-Seok, wrote in a post Monday on fan platform Weverse, with photos of him sporting a crew cut.
Five other younger members of BTS – RM, Suga, Jimin, V, and Jungkook – will join the South Korean army one by one over the next few years. That means the world’s best-known boy band won’t get back together as a group until a few years later.
