(Web Desk) - Singers RM and V of the K-pop band BTS began their mandatory military duties under South Korean law, their management agency announced Monday.
This came a day before two of their band mates, Jimin and Jung Kook, were also expected to report for duty.
Three other BTS members — Jin, J-Hope and Suga — are already months into their conscription. The seven singers of the popular K-pop band plan to reunite as a group sometime in 2025 after they finish their service.
Jin and J-Hope are serving in the army while Suga is fulfilling his duty as a social service agent, an alternative form of military service.
According to HYBE, the band’s management company, RM and V arrived at an army boot camp in the central city of Nonsan to start their 18-month compulsory service.
The company said Jimin and Jung Kook would report to the army together. It didn’t immediately confirm South Korean media reports that they would be at the boot camp on Tuesday.
I’ve been so happy to have been a part of BTS for the past 10 years … Eighteen months can feel both long and short at the same time and I’m sure this period will be a strange and new time of inspiration and learning for all of us,” RM said in a statement posted on his Instagram account. “See you in the future. I love you a lot.”
RM and V will receive five weeks of combat training before being assigned to specific units and duties.
The Military Manpower Administration has stressed that the singers would go through the same process as other South Korean males conscripted for service.