Jin, a member of BTS, a famous K-POP group, started his mandatory military service on December 13, 2022. 

Originally, all Korean men are required  to enlist in the military between the age of 20 and 28. 

However, since BTS has played a big role in spreading Korean culture globally, they had a chance to postpone their military service to the age of 30. 

Due to the fact that Jin contributed to Korean culture as a member of BTS, he was exempted from the military until December of 2022. 

In December of 2022, he turned 30 years old and became the first member in BTS to join the mandatory military service.

Before he enlisted, there were many controversies surrounding BTS’s military services. 

Some people argued that BTS should be exempted from the mandatory military service since they played a huge role in spreading  Korean culture, while others claimed that they should serve their military service as other members of K-POP groups were doing.

Both sides of the argument are reasonable if we consider the laws related to military service. 

One case of exemption from the military service is getting a medal from the Olympics or Asian game; once an athlete wins any of those sports games, he would only join the 3 weeks training system instead of serving in the military for 18~21 months. 

Another case of getting exempted is winning the specific concours; an individual who won a concours still has  to do some voluntary work held by the government instead of joining the mandatory military services. 

Others who claim that BTS should join the military service are arguing that if BTS does not join the military, there are going to be so many K-POP groups that are going to be exempt from the military services due to the change of laws. 

BTS’s mandatory military service was an issue that the government and many politicians were keeping an eye on.

After the long debate, Jin became the first one in BTS to join the military service, and HYBE, company of BTS, announced that all the members will be attending the military service successively.  

With the high probability, SUGA will be the next one to join the military; but since he has an issue with his shoulders and has a medical history of getting shoulder surgery, he will be doing the mandatory service as a military alternative social worker. 

On December 13th, the day Jin joined the military service, all the BTS members came and sent Jin off to the military. 

Some of the reporters were there, but not a lot of ARMYs, BTS’s fans, were there as Jin stressed his fans to not come to see him. 

On December 23th, 10 days after he joined the military, the reporter reported a photo of Jin working with other soldiers. 

Jin will be discharged from the military on June 12th, 2024,18 months after his enlistment. 

HYBE announced that they are planning to have all the BTS members discharged by 2025 and released a new album with all the members involved.