After 18 months of duty in the South Korean military, Jung Hoseok, also known as J-Hope, of the globally popular band BTS, under the label BigHit, has been discharged from the military on Thursday. He is the second member to be discharged from the military, right after the eldest member Kim Seokjin (Jin) on 12th June.
He enlisted on 18 April, 2023 as an active-duty soldier at the 36th Infantry Division recruit training centre, where he underwent five weeks of basic military training. After completing his training, he served as an assistant drill instructor at the army boot camp. He was promoted to Special Class Elite Warrior and has won many accolades in the military for his outstanding performance.
A warm welcome for J-Hope
In his military uniform, as he walked out of the military base, he was given a warm welcome by his bandmate Jin with a huge bouquet, as he was waiting for him. After he came out, and on his request, he addressed the Korean media with a small speech. He said, “ First of all, thank you so much. I am discharged from the military in good health. Thank you so much. I want to thank all the reporters who came this long way. And I was able to finish the service well in good health, thanks to the fans.”
As J-Hope continued his speech, a journalist walked in the frame, holding microphones and sat next to him; to which later, Jin walked there and politely took it from her and held it for his brother. J-Hope, appreciating it, pats on his back. He further said, “ Really, what I wanted to say is that while I was serving for a year-and-a-half as an assistant drill instructor, I did a lot of marches and met quite a lot of citizens of Wonju along the way. They greeted the soldiers and cheered us on and I wanted to first say thank you to the citizens. It was really really moving and I don’t know how to express this warm emotion for them. And for a year-and-a-half, what I felt was that to protect the country, many long term armed forces members are doing so much with hard work and dedication for their nation. And for them, if the people of our country could give them our warm attention and love, I think it would be very meaningful.
He ended his quote saying, “Thank you so much for waiting for me. Thank you for giving me such great encouragement and support and love. I am discharged from the military in good health. Thank you. Salute.”
BTS fans, also known as ARMY, had been eagerly waiting for this discharge, and were seen waiting for him outside Hybe (a rebranded entertainment lifestyle company by BigHit). Many international fans took to their social media handles celebrating his return.
The other members couldn’t be there to receive him, as they are all serving in the military currently. But a day before his release, J-Hope took to Instagram and updated a story saying D-1 (meaning only one day left for him to be discharged) and later went to Weverse platform (a platform to connect the K-pop idols and their fans through lives, photos and text messages) where, three of other bandmates, Jungkook, Jimin and Jin spoke to J-Hope through posts and comments. Jungkook expressed his happiness for his hyung (a way to address elder brother in Korean), saying, “Jin, J-Hope, since you went first, I hope you can be happy and do all the things you couldn’t do. You worked hard.” And then said, “Jimin and me have 238 days left.” To which, while Jimin responded saying, “Let’s cheer up” and “I really respect you guys”, Jin kept laughing.
On 29th March this year, J-hope released ‘Hope On The Street’, a documentary chronicling his journey as a dancer and his passion towards it, alongside releasing a new album titled “Hope on the Street Vol 1.” The six episodes documentary, each picking one song from his album, showed him travelling to Osaka, Paris, New York, Seoul and Gwangju, to rediscover himself.
It is mandatory in South Korea that men under 30 must enlist in the military, due to tensions with North Korea, but in the new revised law, K-pop stars can now delay enlistment until age 30, as revised in 2020. The other members Kim Namjoon (RM) who is completing his service at 15th infantry division, enlisted along with Kim Taehyung (V) who is serving in the Special Duty Team. A day later Jungkook and Jimin enlisted together and are now said to have joined the 5th Infantry division. The last one to be discharged is Min Yoongi who is currently working as a social service agent. The group, as their fans all around the world are waiting, are said to reunite in 2025.
