BTS member Jin provided an update about his impending return to the music industry. His message came in a New Year's video uploaded to YouTube for the K-pop band's rabid fans.
Jin, the oldest member of the group, will wrap up his service with the South Korean military in the coming weeks. All male citizens of the nation are required to spend at least 18 months in the armed forces. At present, all seven musicians in the group are enlisted. Four members – RM, V, Jimin and Jung Kook – joined last month.
'I’ll be back in February and March,' the singer said in a video posted to YouTube.
"Ta-da everyone! Hello! Seokjin came to say hi for the new year. It’s January, everyone. The new year has come. I will become a year older in January. I’d be in my mid-30s by now," the singer, who's birth name is Kim Seok-jin, said in the video transcribed by Billboard.
"Did you all make a snowman? I’m still in the past so I don’t know if it’s snowing or not but if it snowed you have to make a snowman and go back to being kids and do snowball fights."
The singer noted that it'll take a few weeks to get his appearance back up to boy band standards in the video that was likely recorded more than a year ago.
"I’m leaving this video so you can watch my pretty, handsome face and spend January and February warmly. I miss you all. I miss you a lot. Wait just a bit more and you’ll be able to see me with short hair. I’ll grow my hair quickly this year and I’ll be able to start working hard soon," Jin said.
The musician also urged BTS' notoriously passionate fanbase to be patient.
All seven members of BTS are currently enlisted in the South Korean military.
"Guys, please wait a few more months. Now that it’s the new year, we have a few months left. Make a lot of snowmen and think of me as you make them," he said. "I’ll be back in February and March, until then, bye!"
Because he's the oldest member of the group, Jin was the first to enlist back in December 2022. He was originally expected to finish his service this coming June, but it appears that the star might be getting out early.
His last solo single "The Astronaut" came out in October 2022. The track co-written by members of Coldplay made it to the top of Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart and the singles chart in Hungary.
The group's hiatus caused by this mandatory enlistment is expected to last until 2025.
The four members who joined the military last month each put out a solo project in the year before their enlistments. Jimin released his mini-album Face in March and followed it up with an accompanying documentary in October. Jung Kook released his LP Golden in November, V dropped his album Layover in September, and RM put out an LP called Indigo in December 2022.
BTS is currently on an extended hiatus that's expected to last until 2025. Fans began counting down the days until the group's return after Jimin and Jung Kook enlisted on Dec. 12.
In other K-pop news, members of the girl group Blackpink decided they would pursue solo projects without support from the band's agency YG last month. This news came just days after the group itself decided to remain with the company following weeks of speculation.
