K-pop superstar BTS may join compulsory military service at the same time next year when the eldest Jin’s time comes up under the a revised conscription law of granting exemption for government-recognized pop artists to push their enrollment till 30, a brokerage house speculated on Wednesday.

Yoo Sung-man, an analyst at Leading Investment & Securities, said in a report that BTS members could enlist in the military together around mid-2022 as the boy band’s eldest Jin, now at 28, turns 30 next year.

Big Hit Music said they have nothing to comment on the BTS members’ military conscription issue.

Shares were mostly untouched. HYBE closed Wednesday unchanged at 242,000 won.

BTS’ Jin said in a press conference held after the release of their album “BE” last year that military service is a natural duty of a young Korean man and he is ready to respond to the country’s call to serve.

The National Assembly revised of the Military Service Act last year to allow some k-pop celebrities and artists to postpone their compulsory conscription until they turn 30. Before the revision, all able-bodied men in South Korea were required to enlist for about a 20-month-long military service until the age of 28.

Yoo said the BTS’ enlistment would only have a limited impact on HYBE Co., rebranded BTS label from Big Hit Entertainment, as it would produce content prior to their conscription to minimize the gap. BTS is as big as Beatles and Michael Jackson to HYBE, so they would continue to generate profits even while serving for the country, he said.

He picked SEVENTEEN the next K-pop sensation after Big Bang, EXO and BTS. It remains to be seen whether SEVENTEEN to achieve global success like BTS, but no one disagrees that SEVENTEEN is the most promising K-pop band at this point, he said.

HYBE has enough artists such as TXT, Nu’est, GirlFriend and EnHypen on top of global starts including Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande following the acquisition of American music label Ithaca Records to fill the gap during BTS’s military service, he said.

By Pulse

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