Jin, a member of BTS, started his 18-month conscription in South Korea on Tuesday. The 30-year-old, who is the eldest member of the K-pop band, shared a picture of himself on Korea’s Weverse social media app sporting a new military buzzcut with a caption, “Cuter than I thought,” before enrolling.
At 2:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Jin entered the Yeoncheon army base in the northern Gyeonggi province, which is only 10 miles (16 kilometres) from the Demilitarized Zone separating South Korea from North Korea.
As Jin and his security team approached the base, six black vans sped past onlookers and media members.
Despite the pop star’s advice to avoid the base while he was training, the group’s followers had congregated outside.
The singer has started five weeks of basic military training in a bootcamp close to the North Korean border, according to the nation’s Defense Ministry. After that, he will be sent into an army division.
Big Hit Music, the record label and management company for BTS, said in October that all seven members of the group intended to serve in the military.
Despite a 1953 armistice that formally halted open hostilities after a three-year war, South Korea and North Korea are still technically at war. Every able-bodied male must spend 18 to 21 months in the nation’s army.
