K-pop star and BTS member J-Hope starts mandatory military service

SEOUL (Reuters) – J-Hope, a member of Grammy-nominated K-pop boy band BTS, began his mandatory military service in South Korea on Tuesday, the second member of the group to do so.

The singer kept a low profile as a van carrying him entered the venue for his military enlistment ceremony in the city of Wonju, some 87 kilometres (54 miles) away from Seoul, news agency Yonhap reported.

“I’ll be back later,” the singer whose real name is Jung Ho-seok said on Monday in a post on fan platform Weverse, alongside a picture of his shaved head. More than 10,000 comments from fans wished his safe return after completing his military duties.

Spokespeople for HYBE, which owns the band’s agency Bighit Music, declined to confirm the details of his enlistment.

J-Hope, 29, is the second member of the popular septet to enlist following Jin, the oldest, who joined the military in December.

All able-bodied men in South Korea between the ages of 18 and 28 must serve in the military for 18 to 21 months.

The military enlistment of BTS members has drawn attention from not just fans but also politicians in South Korea. Some lawmakers floated the idea of granting the hit group an exemption from mandatory military service to allow them to continue to perform instead.

However, the band’s agency last year said that all members planned to complete military duty by 2025.

(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Jamie Freed and Sonali Paul)