BTS to join military: What this mic-drop worthy announcement means for K-Pop, ARMY and South Korea

For over a year, there has been the constant frenzied discussion regarding the mandatory military service, and the boys endlessly waiting for the government to make the final decision. Surveys and polls were held, innumerable officials voiced opinions with many arguing about alternate service, while the band themselves just gave one-line answers on the subject, steering away from any possible controversy. But they weren’t at ease at all, as their VLives and posts showed.

Their frustration resonated in their social media posts, especially those of the leader RM, who has been shouldering the herculean responsibility of leading one of the biggest boy bands in the world. There was suppressed anger and a lot of exhaustion, while they had to wait for the government to pass a decision on their lives and careers. The band decided to not wait for the government to pass a resolution, and decided to chart their own path ahead, braving the uncertain future.

Come to think of it, the boys have been under enormous and cruel pressure, for literally just following their passion. It’s almost a damned-if-you-damned-if-you-don’t scenario for the young septet, who revolutionised K-Pop and revitalised the economy. If they didn’t follow military service and pursued their careers yet with alternate service in the background as promised, that would have led to more complications and further brewing resentment against them. And now, that they choose to go ahead with the unavoidable enlistment, they also have to wonder not just about the future of the company HYBE, but South Korea itself. That’s a debilitating burden for seven youngsters to shoulder. But then, like they say, they’ve got ‘ARMY right behind them when they say so,’ as their song Butter quotes.

BTS, the economy and HYBE

The Hallyu wave, which originated in the 90’s, was born out of the Asian financial crisis that hit South Korea in 1997. In the midst of financial shambles it was understood that the entertainment industry could serve as an economic engine. The soft power of Korean entertainment was highlighted as funds were injected into the Korean film council to propagate pop culture. Quickly, the power of K-Pop began to spread through Asia, and then BTS had the most glowing success as they burst forth on international shores and broke into mainstream America.

For years, BTS has raised more than $3.6 billion every year for the South Korean economy. They were the first group to have six No. 1 songs Hot 100, a feat that hadn’t been achieved since The Beatles. Apart from this, they had accounted for nearly one-third of all K-Pop related sales and streaming in the United States, resulting in 3.6 million album equivalent units, 2.56 billion audio streams, 1.3 million album sales, and 3.1 million digital track sales. By 2020, the group was contributing $3.5 billion annually to the nation’s economy, according to the Hyundai Research Institute. BTS was still the feverish silver lining during the pandemic that almost destroyed the live-concert industry and brought a 58 per cent increase in HYBE’s revenue. In 2021 itself, the label minted $1.3 trillion. According to Forbes, a single BTS concert could generate $500 million or more. Just this year, the group earned a total of 40 billion won ($32.1 million) with their four-day concert for ‘Permission to Dance on Stage’ in Las Vegas. This is added to the initial $33.3 million box earnings at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles back in December 2021.

Coupled with this are the endorsements. According to The Korea Times, they earn bout $4.5 million for every Korean brand they endorsed—and that fee is astronomical when it came to global endorsements. They have served as brand ambassadors for Samsonite, Seoul Tourism, Louis Vuitton, Formula E, Puma, FILA, Coway, LG, Hyundai, and Samsung, among many others.

BTS is also responsible for the influx of tourists in the country. In 2017, it was estimated that around 800,000 tourists visit South Korea and 7 per cent expressed their interest to visit the country, owing to the love for BTS. The band has also been named as Seoul’s Honorary Tourism Ambassadors, and have attracted tourist visits to the city with the “Live Seoul Like I Do” initiative invites tourists to band members’ favorite locations in the city. The government website “Imagine Your Korea” shows the list of locations of BTS music videos and album covers, propelling tourists to visit the sites to “recreate the scenes yourself, or simply bask in the knowledge that your bias was once standing in the exact same spot, breathing the same air, and seeing the same view.” BTS’ old dormitory, their first dorm, is somewhat of a tourist spot as we learnt the other day from Run BTS.

However, when the band expressed their displeasure with the idol system and were misunderstood as taking a hiatus, the stock price of HYBE plummeted by 28 per cent to 139,000 won (108 dollars), the lowest the company has ever witnessed, shedding 1.7 billion in market value. This was just after a small misunderstanding over the word hiatus. Ever since, there have been depressing fluctuations, depending solely on the changing winds of the military service opinions. At the end of August, HYBE stock prices rose by 6 per cent, owing to promising comments by Defense Minister, Lee Jong-sup, where he argued that a decision would be made on the basis of a public poll. On September 1, HYBE’s share went down by 8.26% during the trading session. Worse, 54.1 percent of people who took the survey said that they wanted the band to serve in the military. This resulted in HYBE’s share price falling further by 4.18 percent.

These are just examples of HYBE’s share prices falling without the actual concrete decision, based on hearsay and opinions—-what actually happens now? While other K-Pop bands like Seventeen and Blackpink show promising success with world tours and raging through Billboard charts, it’s uncertain if they can fill the BTS-sized void for three years.

The face of South Korean diplomacy

 Apart from expanding the influence of their music across borders, BTS became a strategic instrument in South Korean diplomacy. They were appointed as Special Presidential Envoy to attend the 76th United Nations General Assembly on September 20, 2021, an unprecedented move in the history of K-Pop idols. The band became a part of the official delegation for the UN, discussing crucial issues plaguing the world, including climate change. The band had already started building a relationship with the UN from 2017 with the Love Myself campaign, which raised 2.98 million dollars globally for UNICEF’s work to end violence. South Korea also banks heavily on the radiating charm of BTS to spread messages of positivity, and this is reflected in their messages of hope and reassurance in the post-COVID era during the 75^th United Nations General Assembly.

While the White House has always utilised prominent artistes to spread awareness, this time, it was BTS who made the trip to meet president Joe Biden — another first for the band, another first for South Korea. This elevated their status further from K-Pop stars to global icons. The boys addressed the subject of Anti-Asian hate crimes and this marked a new epoch in their professional careers—as they merged into political activists and had to deliberate on a harder position for social issues.

But what about the boys, themselves?

This year, J-Hope released his album Jack In The Box, along with the single Rush Hour with Crush and performed at Lollapalooza in Chicago, the first Korean artist to do so. Jungkook’s Left And Right collaboration with Charlie Puth has bagged accolades and there’s much hope it might get a Grammy nod. They were stars at the AMA’s and won the Grammys night even without winning a Grammy. There were storied photo-shoots that flooded the Big Hit Instagram profile, showing new sides to themselves. The individual albums of the members are in the works, as RM, Jimin, Jin, and V have promised. Each time there’s a small hint of their album, ARMY erupts in anticipation. Music aside, every time any of the members post a photo on social media, it goes viral. Each of the septet have over 40 million followers on Instagram. As one fan just reassured on Twitter, “BTS might be in military service, but they’ll still find time to post photos and engage with fans.” Fan engagement has been intrinsic to their existence since 2013—even when the band was struggling in their early days.

Staunch and fierce ARMY have vowed to stand by the members regardless, as Twitter trends clearly show. ‘BTS is forever’ is the refrain being circulated on social media, while the boys still contemplate their future. There are reassurances that the fans will survive three years without seeing BTS, the septet has given them enough content in the past decade to live on—ranging from their albums, to reality shows, Run BTS, In The Soop and Bon Voyage. There’s a consensus of promise on social media, and it’s what the band is praying for too—that their fans will wait for them. It’s one of the bands that live for the fans too.

Apart from political and economic responsibilities, there are innumerable reasons why the band has had such a strong fan-base for the past decade. The boys know the main reason why they’ve come this far; it’s owing to the undying love from the fans. ARMY is an astounding global community, with each fanclub devoting constant campaigns every time a song is released—so that the band gets the highest number of streams and hits. It’s what got the band to sweep all the awards in the past decade, fans won’t have it any other way.

South Korean celebrities have gone for military, returned and still faced a warm welcome from their fans, case in point being the band Super Junior, which waited for ten years as all the members finished military service. Nevertheless, there was a strong sense of joy when they reunited in 2019, and photos of the band members hugging circulated for days. The band returned in style and headlined a live concert, with a revenue over 60 billion won. Cut to 2022, they’re back with an album.

So hope continues to glow for BTS, the global icons, and K-Pop stars, and their ever loyal fan-base. Their fans have made it clear that they’re not going anywhere. And, BTS has promised, neither are they.