Another year, another batch of K-pop idols who will enlist in the military. Hence, we have listed the three idols who will soon bid a temporary goodbye to their fans for two years.
1. BIGBANG's Seungri
Seungri, whose real name is Lee Seung Hyun, will fulfill his two-year mandatory military service in early 2019. The exact date of enlistment, however, has yet to be announced.
"I hope to enlist early next year and reunite with the other members as soon as we can," the 28-year-old K-pop idol said in a previous interview, as quoted by Soompi. "I hope our fans will keep watching over us and supporting us because we will try to make the hiatus short."
Before that, Seungri will meet-and-greet his international fans first across several Asian countries. His final solo concert will kick off on Jan. 12, 2019 at the AsiaWorld-Expo Hall 10 in Hong Kong.
It will then be followed by another show at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza in Tokyo, Japan from Jan. 26 to Jan. 27, 2019 and Seoul, South Korea from Feb. 15 to Feb. 16, 2019, and Queenstown, Singapore on Feb. 23, 2019. The final show will be held at the Osaka-jō Hall in Osaka, Japan on March 9 to March 10, 2019.
2. EXO's Xiumin
Xiumin (whose real name is Kim Min Seok), the oldest member of EXO, will be the first from the boy group to enlist in the military. The singer-turned-actor, however, has yet to receive an official start date to begin his two-year military service.
While waiting, Xiumin is currently busy with promotions for their fifth album, "Don't Mess up My Tempo," along with fellow members Sehun, Lay, Baekhyun, Suho, Chanyeol, Kai, D.O., and Chen. He is also a regular cast member on the MBC reality television show titled "It's Dangerous beyond the Blankets."
3. BTOB's Minhyuk
BTOB member Minhyuk, whose real name is Lee Min Hyuk, will start his two-year mandatory military service in the first quarter of 2019. He has already been accepted to serve as a conscripted policeman, although his exact enlistment date has yet to be confirmed, as per All Kpop.
The 28-year-old singer and rapper will be the second member of BTOB to enlist in the military. It can be recalled that the boy band's leader and main vocalist, Eunkwang (whose real name is Seo Eun Kwang), started fulfilling his two-year mandatory military service last August 2018 as an active duty soldier at the ROK army's 27th division in Gangwon-do's Hwacheon County.
