Last member of K-pop megaband BTS to finish military service
South Korea's most lucrative musical act has been on a self-described "hiatus" since 2022 as its members undertook the mandatory service required of all South Korean men under 30 due to tensions with the nuclear-armed North.
SUGA will be the last to complete his service, ahead of the group's widely anticipated return to activities as a full unit.
His final day concludes at 11:59:59 pm, according to the band's agency HYBE and South Korea's Military Manpower Administration.
The rapper, who served as a social service agent -- an alternative form of military duty -- effectively completed his service on Wednesday after using up his remaining leave, according to his label.
"Above all else, I wanted to .... sincerely thank our fans who waited for me all this time," SUGA told the group's fans -- collectively known as ARMY -- on the platform Weverse.
"I've missed you so much."
Before entering military service, the megaband generated more than 5.5 trillion won ($4 billion) in yearly economic impact, according to the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute.
Analysts expect HYBE's operating profit to jump next year, driven in part by BTS's anticipated return to large-scale touring, with some projections forecasting a 71 percent year-on-year increase.
"The importance of BTS's reunion to HYBE, K-pop and South Korea at large cannot be overstated. They are singular in their part of the Korean Wave," Grace Kao, a sociology professor at Yale University, told AFP.
"I think their next tour will be their biggest yet."
Since their release last week, band leader RM has appeared at Art Basel in Switzerland as the new global ambassador for Samsung's Art TV, while member V was spotted attending a piano recital in Seoul alongside "Old Boy" filmmaker Park Chan-wook.
Soft power
BTS has long been considered one of the best examples of South Korea's soft power reach, even making a White House visit in 2022.
They have spoken candidly about mental health and anti-Asian crime and donated $1 million to the Black Lives Matter movement in 2019, inspiring fans to contribute the same amount.
K-pop's surging popularity has also helped break down barriers for Asian artists, said Keung Yoon Bae, a Korean studies professor at Georgia Institute of Technology.
"Singers such as Eric Nam, born and raised in Atlanta, have discussed before how they had to go to Korea because they felt that attaining a music career in the US as an Asian felt impossible," she said.
"Today, groups such as BTS and Blackpink seem to be breaking down that sense of impossibility."
Despite the widespread acclaim, SUGA was fined 15 million won ($10,933) for driving an electric scooter under the influence of alcohol last year.
On Saturday, he once again apologised for the incident in a message posted on Weverse.
"I'm sorry for the disappointment and concern I caused due to what happened last year. More than anything, knowing I caused pain to my fans broke my heart," he said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fashion Network
2 hours ago
- Fashion Network
Setchu stages first runway show in Milan menswear
Six months ago, when Satoshi Kuwata made his global runway show debut with Setchu in Florence, he swore it would be his last live show. This Friday in Milan, he opened the latest menswear runway season. Like in his debut, the Japanese designer has gone fishing for inspiration. This time, it was not in the Pacific but near Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, where the discovery of striking straw-using artisans was the wellspring of this dramatic collection. Presented inside a 100-year-plus atelier in Milan, the co-ed show opened with a leggy lass in an oversized man's shirt, cut with kimono-worthy sleeves, followed by a matinee idol Asian male model in brilliant giant white cotton pants that hung off the waist. Note to all fashionistas: the elephantine pant is again essential in every man's wardrobe. Kuwata played accomplishedly with a series of colonial motifs – safari jackets or rangers' coats – cutting them loose and disentangled. In a sense, the biggest news of this collection was how the female models looked even better in Setchu's masculine tailoring than the male models. One gal in a khaki look that riffed on Grace Kelly in John Ford's classic film, Mogambo, looked utterly divine, her allure enhanced by a triplet of straw bags she carried in her right hand. She was followed by a raven-haired lass in a white mini-tunic cocktail dress wrapped in a wildly woven basket. 'It's a new side of Setchu. I was under a lot of pressure from friends to show again. But what attracted me was how much I could express, even with a small budget. The goal is always to make something emotional,' said Japan-born Satoshi. Kuwata is one of fashion's great image-makers, and his noble African in a slim blazer paired with a white T-shirt and midnight blue dhoti shorts was a look of great understated elegance — especially on a Milan Friday when temperatures soared up to 38 Celsius. 'I love playful functionality, but timeless and with another joy,' he expounded in his sibylline manner. Trained by Huntsman and Davies & Son — the latter being the oldest tailor on Savile Row — Satoshi is an excellent pattern cutter, a skill few of his contemporaries will ever achieve. Though this season, he insisted he wanted sculpting, not just tailoring. 'Victoria Falls is one of the best fishing destinations to catch tiger fish. And I met this tribe — the Batonga — and their way of weaving baskets, which is quite different from any other country. So, the construction is random, which is what I wanted in this collection — organic random shapes,' insisted Satoshi, the 2023 LVMH Prize winner.
Fashion Network
8 hours ago
- Fashion Network
Setchu stages first runway show in Milan menswear
Six months ago, when Satoshi Kuwata made his global runway show debut with Setchu in Florence, he swore it would be his last live show. This Friday in Milan, he opened the latest menswear runway season. Like in his debut, the Japanese designer has gone fishing for inspiration. This time, it was not in the Pacific but near Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, where the discovery of striking straw-using artisans was the wellspring of this dramatic collection. Presented inside a 100-year-plus atelier in Milan, the co-ed show opened with a leggy lass in an oversized man's shirt, cut with kimono-worthy sleeves, followed by a matinee idol Asian male model in brilliant giant white cotton pants that hung off the waist. Note to all fashionistas: the elephantine pant is again essential in every man's wardrobe. Kuwata played accomplishedly with a series of colonial motifs – safari jackets or rangers' coats – cutting them loose and disentangled. In a sense, the biggest news of this collection was how the female models looked even better in Setchu's masculine tailoring than the male models. One gal in a khaki look that riffed on Grace Kelly in John Ford's classic film, Mogambo, looked utterly divine, her allure enhanced by a triplet of straw bags she carried in her right hand. She was followed by a raven-haired lass in a white mini-tunic cocktail dress wrapped in a wildly woven basket. 'It's a new side of Setchu. I was under a lot of pressure from friends to show again. But what attracted me was how much I could express, even with a small budget. The goal is always to make something emotional,' said Japan-born Satoshi. Kuwata is one of fashion's great image-makers, and his noble African in a slim blazer paired with a white T-shirt and midnight blue dhoti shorts was a look of great understated elegance — especially on a Milan Friday when temperatures soared up to 38 Celsius. 'I love playful functionality, but timeless and with another joy,' he expounded in his sibylline manner. Trained by Huntsman and Davies & Son — the latter being the oldest tailor on Savile Row — Satoshi is an excellent pattern cutter, a skill few of his contemporaries will ever achieve. Though this season, he insisted he wanted sculpting, not just tailoring. 'Victoria Falls is one of the best fishing destinations to catch tiger fish. And I met this tribe — the Batonga — and their way of weaving baskets, which is quite different from any other country. So, the construction is random, which is what I wanted in this collection — organic random shapes,' insisted Satoshi, the 2023 LVMH Prize winner.
Fashion Network
8 hours ago
- Fashion Network
Setchu stages first runway show in Milan menswear
Six months ago, when Satoshi Kuwata made his global runway show debut with Setchu in Florence, he swore it would be his last live show. This Friday in Milan, he opened the latest menswear runway season. Like in his debut, the Japanese designer has gone fishing for inspiration. This time, it was not in the Pacific but near Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, where the discovery of striking straw-using artisans was the wellspring of this dramatic collection. Presented inside a 100-year-plus atelier in Milan, the co-ed show opened with a leggy lass in an oversized man's shirt, cut with kimono-worthy sleeves, followed by a matinee idol Asian male model in brilliant giant white cotton pants that hung off the waist. Note to all fashionistas: the elephantine pant is again essential in every man's wardrobe. Kuwata played accomplishedly with a series of colonial motifs – safari jackets or rangers' coats – cutting them loose and disentangled. In a sense, the biggest news of this collection was how the female models looked even better in Setchu's masculine tailoring than the male models. One gal in a khaki look that riffed on Grace Kelly in John Ford's classic film, Mogambo, looked utterly divine, her allure enhanced by a triplet of straw bags she carried in her right hand. She was followed by a raven-haired lass in a white mini-tunic cocktail dress wrapped in a wildly woven basket. 'It's a new side of Setchu. I was under a lot of pressure from friends to show again. But what attracted me was how much I could express, even with a small budget. The goal is always to make something emotional,' said Japan-born Satoshi. Kuwata is one of fashion's great image-makers, and his noble African in a slim blazer paired with a white T-shirt and midnight blue dhoti shorts was a look of great understated elegance — especially on a Milan Friday when temperatures soared up to 38 Celsius. 'I love playful functionality, but timeless and with another joy,' he expounded in his sibylline manner. Trained by Huntsman and Davies & Son — the latter being the oldest tailor on Savile Row — Satoshi is an excellent pattern cutter, a skill few of his contemporaries will ever achieve. Though this season, he insisted he wanted sculpting, not just tailoring. 'Victoria Falls is one of the best fishing destinations to catch tiger fish. And I met this tribe — the Batonga — and their way of weaving baskets, which is quite different from any other country. So, the construction is random, which is what I wanted in this collection — organic random shapes,' insisted Satoshi, the 2023 LVMH Prize winner.
