BTS’s Jin Returns from Military Service with a “Hugathon” for 1,000 Fans! – Anticipation Builds for Band’s Comeback

On Thursday, a thousand BTS fans will wait in line in Seoul to hug Jin, the K-pop idol who has returned to his career after serving for eighteen months in the military.

His first public appearance since being released from the army on Wednesday is the three-hour marathon.
A raffle was used to select the 1,000 recipients of the embraces, while Jin has stated that he had considered hugging as many as 3,000 followers.

“I’m very excited to finally meet Jin,” Ms. Park exclaims, having found out over the weekend that she had been selected to compete in Thursday’s “hugathon.”
“I didn’t think I would win. “I was so shocked by it that I kept checking all weekend long,” says the 32-year-old, who chose not to disclose her first name.
everything wasn’t until she began packing to head to the capital, she claimed, that everything began to “feel real.”

The eldest member of the popular boy band, Jin, 31, was drafted in December 2022. He worked at a South Korean military training facility, where all physically fit males are required to serve, as an assistant drill instructor.
The first member of BTS to be released from service is Jin. The other six members of the band, J-Hope, V, RM, Jimin, Jung Kook, and Suga, are still in the military, and a reunion is not anticipated until June 2025.
However, the others took Wednesday off to celebrate Jin’s return; pictures of their brief reunion on Wednesday have fans giddy with anticipation.

Jin said to supporters on a livestream to begin his comeback to the music industry, “I love you, and I appreciate you waiting for me. I’ll attempt to communicate how I really feel tomorrow.”
After the hugs on Thursday, there will be a gathering of 3,000 people where Jin will play songs at the fans’ request and give them greetings.
Despite not winning the lottery, 25-year-old Vanessa May Leuterio managed to advance to the next round, which she traveled from the Philippines to witness.

“I cried [when I learned the result] since I prayed very hard for a winning slot,” she claimed. “It was hard to win since it was me versus thousands of ARMYs [BTS fan group] who wanted to join.”
In contrast, Ms. Park feels both anxious and thrilled.
“Hugging a thousand people for three hours is difficult even if Jin became more fit in the military,” she adds.
According to her, a lot of fans requested HYBE, the band’s manager, who is also organizing the event, to invite less people for hugs. They also desired that they screen the guests.
“Pretending to be a fan, someone could approach him. We, the fans, are always concerned about the artist’s well-being and security,” Ms. Park states.

The event’s qualifying requirements, which required spectators to enlist in ARMY—which is purported to have more than 25 million members—also sparked criticism. In order to be eligible for the raffle, participants also needed to purchase BTS albums from a certain website; the more albums they purchased, the greater their chances of winning a hug.

However, this sparked a controversy and led to accusations that HYBE was using the occasion to promote unsold records. After a while, the agency issued an apology and relaxed the requirements to let anyone who has ever bought specific BTS albums.
During his livestream on Wednesday, Jin addressed the criticism, saying, “Please understand that this is something that the company and I prepared with good intentions.”

For fans, Jin’s comeback marks the start of BTS’s unannounced comeback from sabbatical. But whether the most well-known boy band in the world can resume its level of popularity after a hiatus is the question industry insiders are posing.
Music critic Lim Hee-yun predicts that BTS “will be perceived as older.” However, he doesn’t believe that will negatively impact the band’s reputation.

“BTS has been operational for almost a decade. They will not attract new, youthful admirers who will find them unique, but their current fan base will follow them. “They are getting older with the band.”
Fans appear to agree. “I think that shouldn’t be a problem between ARMYs and BTS,” adds 20-year-old Samantha, who did not get the chance to hug Jin but will attend the second portion of Thursday’s event.
She has been a fan of the band since she was ten years old and does not expect it to change anytime soon: “I like their music, not their popularity.”

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