HYBE: BTS hiatus hurts growth of K-pop worldwide

Seoul: Making megastars BTS do their South Korean military service is slowing the global growth of K-pop, said the chairman of the septet’s agency HYBE.

The boyband are widely considered South Korea’s biggest-ever cultural phenomenon, selling out stadiums around the world and dominating the charts while raking in billions for the country’s economy and building a global legion of fans known as ARMYs.

But all able-bodied men in South Korea must serve at least 18 months in the military and, after a years-long debate about whether BTS deserved an exemption, Jin, the oldest member of the group, enlisted in December.

Bang Si-hyuk, chairman of HYBE and the mastermind behind BTS, said figures – including global ratings and album sales – now showed declining demand for K-pop.

“The absence of BTS is the first reason,” Bang said. “I think it’s very clear that the fact BTS is not active as a team is playing the biggest role in bringing about this change in numbers,” he told a forum in Seoul.

BTS are the most prominent K-pop figures globally, he said, adding: “the market narrows significantly when BTS is taken out.”

His comments come days after HYBE suspended a controversial bid to acquire control of rival SM Entertainment, ending a lengthy, high-profile feud over the company’s management.

He was accused of a hostile takeover and seeking to monopolise K-pop, but Bang defended his move as a solution to K-pop’s slowing growth.

HYBE announced last month that a second BTS member, J-Hope, has “initiated the military enlistment process”, with him due to enlist in April. — AFP