K-Pop Stars Jimin and Jung Kook of BTS Discharged from Military Service as Band's Reunion Nears
AP Photo/Lee Jin-man
K-pop band BTS members Jimin, right, and Jung Kook salute after being discharged from a mandatory military service in Yeoncheon, South Korea, Wednesday, June 11, 2025.
YEONCHEON, South Korea (AP) — K-pop superstars Jimin and Jung Kook are the latest and final members of BTS to be discharged from South Korea's mandatory military service.
The pair wore their military uniforms Wednesday, saluted and addressed fans who had assembled to see the pair after their discharge.
Jung Kook thanked the journalists and fans who traveled to see him and Jimin after their discharge and acknowledged how different it was to be back in the spotlight. 'Actually, it's been so long since I've been in front of cameras, and I didn't even put on makeup, so I'm a bit embarrassed,' he said. 'I don't know what to say.'
They enlisted in December 2023, one day after RM and V did the same. The latter were discharged on Tuesday. They saluted upon their release Tuesday in Chuncheon City as about 200 fans, some of whom traveled from Mexico, Turkey and Brazil, cheered.
V thanked fans Tuesday for their patience in waiting for him and RM's return and teased the band's reunion. 'If you can just wait a little bit longer, we will return with a really amazing performance.'
The seven singers of the popular K-pop band plan to reunite as a group sometime in 2025 after they finish their service.
Six of the group's seven members served in the army, while Suga is fulfilling his duty as a social service agent, an alternative form of military service. He will be discharged later this month.
Jin, the oldest member of K-pop supergroup BTS, was discharged in June 2024. J-Hope was discharged in October.
In South Korea, all able-bodied men aged 18 to 28 are required by law to perform 18-21 months of military service under a conscription system meant to deter aggression from rival North Korea.
The law gives special exemptions to athletes, classical and traditional musicians, and ballet and other dancers if they have obtained top prizes in certain competitions and are assessed to have enhanced national prestige. K-pop stars and other entertainers aren't subject to such privileges.
However, in 2020, BTS postponed their service until age 30 after South Korea's National Assembly revised its Military Service Act, allowing K-pop stars to delay their enlistment until age 30.
There was heated public debate in 2022 over whether to offer special exemptions of mandatory military service for BTS members, until the group's management agency announced in October 2022 that all seven members would fulfill their duties.
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Their mother, Audree Wilson, unsuccessfully sued publisher HarperCollins because the book said she passively watched as her husband beat Brian as a child. Love successfully sued Brian Wilson, saying he was unfairly deprived of royalties after contributing lyrics to dozens of songs. He would eventually gain ownership of the band's name. The Beach Boys still released an occasional hit single: 'Kokomo,' made without Wilson, hit No. 1 in 1988. Wilson, meanwhile, released such solo albums as 'Brian Wilson' and 'Gettin' In Over My Head,' with cameos by McCartney and Clapton among others. He also completed a pair of albums for the Walt Disney label — a collection of Gershwin songs and music from Disney movies. In 2012, surviving members of the Beach Boys reunited for a 50th anniversary album, which quickly hit the Top 10 before the group again bickered and separated. Wilson won just two competitive Grammys, for the solo instrumental 'Mrs. O'Leary's Cow' and for 'The Smile Sessions' box set. Otherwise, his honors ranged from a Grammy lifetime achievement prize to a tribute at the Kennedy Center to induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2018, he returned to his old high school in Hawthorne and witnessed the literal rewriting of his past: The principal erased an 'F' he had been given in music and awarded him an 'A.'
