BTS's Jin honestly explains why his mandatory enlistment was delayed + his thoughts on the hate comments toward him
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On October 29, BTS's Jin (30) honestly opened up to fans about his delayed mandatory military service plans.
Greeting fans from Buenos Aires, Argentina, prior to his upcoming appearance at Coldplay's 'Music of the Spheres' world tour stop in the city, Jin talked about his next steps once he returns to South Korea.
First, he began, "I am going to talk a little bit about the 'Voldemort' subject for us, the 'deed that must not be named', or military service."
He then continued, "After wrapping up this Argentina performance, I think I will fill out my forms for mandatory service as soon as I land in Korea."
According to Jin, "Originally, the members and I had discussed plans for me to enlist soon after the 'BE' album. However, that summer, along with the wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, our song 'Dynamite' ranked #1 on Billboard's 'Hot 100'. Because of its unexpected success, I couldn't just go off to the military right then. We were still in the middle of a pandemic, and to return the love that the fans showed us, we decided to work on 'Butter' and 'Permission To Dance'. These two songs also saw great results, and so it just didn't feel right for me to put everything down and leave the members and fans."
Furthermore, "After 'Permission To Dance', we decided that I had to participate in our concerts before I began my mandatory service. I also told the members that if I went to the army, performing on stage would be one of the things I would miss the most. So then we wrapped up our concerts successfully, but after that, we were invited to the 'Grammys'. So then, it was 'Okay, let's go after the 'Grammys'."
Jin went on to reveal, "I was supposed to enlist around May or June of this year, and the company had given me the 'OK'. In June, we even talked about how we would wrap up our group promotions temporarily and begin solo promotions. For me, that was a roundabout way of saying that I would be bidding everyone farewell for a while due to mandatory service."
However, Jin's enlistment plans were disrupted once again. "I had told the members that I wanted to enlist in the summer, or in the fall at the latest. But then there was the Busan concert, and the members said, 'This might be one last chance for us to perform a concert together in Korea with all 7 of us' and also 'We haven't had a proper concert where we could hear our Korean fans' voices'. So they convinced me to wait until the end of the Busan concert."
Two days after BTS's successful 'Yet To Come' concert in Busan, Jin officially announced his mandatory enlistment plans. Regarding this, Jin remarked, "In Korea, all of the members and I received a lot of hate for this whole ordeal. To be honest, there's a small part of me that feels upset. The only reason that we did not announce our position regarding the military service was because we did not want ARMYs to cry at our Busan concert. But so many people were talking about us, saying, 'They should receive exemption' or 'It is their duty to serve', and the controversy was exacerbated. Even though all of that doesn't feel quite right, I'm at least glad that I didn't see our fans in tears during our concert. It was worth it to endure the criticism."
