A famous American economic magazine claims that BTS’s military service was a missed opportunity for South Korea to earn billions of dollars a year.
On October 18th (Korean time), Fortune, an American economic magazine, reported on issues related to BTS’ enlistment.
According to Fortune, Hyundai Research Institute said in 2018 that BTS was contributing more than $3.6 billion (about 5 trillion Korean won) to the South Korean economy every year.
Then, still citing data from the Hyundai Research Institute, Fortune said that it was estimated that BTS brought in one in every 13 tourists who visited South Korea in 2017, and generated an estimated $1.1 billion from consumer goods exports like merchandise and cosmetics in a single year.
In addition, between 2014 and 2023, analysts projected BTS would have contributed 41.8 trillion won ($29.4 billion) to the South Korean economy if the boy group maintained its popularity.
“As well as contributing wealth to South Korea, the group has proved its ability to rock the country’s financial markets”, Fortune also said.
On the other hand, HYBE previously revealed that BTS has begun specific preparations to fulfill their military service obligations, adding that BTS member Jin applied for the cancellation of the postponement of his enlistment at the end of October and will follow the enlistment-related procedures of the Byeokmu Office.
Besides Jin, the other members will perform their military service sequentially according to their personal plans, according to HYBE. The members scheduled to enlist after Jin are Suga (born in 1993), RM and J-Hope born in 1994, V and Jimin born in 1995, and Jungkook born in 1997.
Finally, HYBE stated, “The company and the members hope to resume BTS’ activities as a whole in about 2025, but we ask for your understanding that it is difficult to specify the exact time at this time”
Sources: allkpop, daum
