It’s party time for Army! After much delay, BTS will hold free concert on October 15 at Busan Ilgwang special stage

Army bring out your lightsticks and get set to paint the town purple!

The much-awaited BTS Busan concert will be held on October 15, at Busan Ilgwang special stage in Gijang-gun. Ahead of the concert, several problems like lack of funds and venue booking issues came to the surface, leading to innumerable delays.

The group’s agency HYBE decided to take matters into their own hands. The company issued a statement, saying that it will bear some of the expenses of the concert. The members - Namjoon, Jimin, Jungkook, J-Hope, Suga, Taehyung and Jin will be performing without pay, as a gift to their fans. “First of all, in response to the media inquiries about the cost of the Busan Concert, we have stated that there will be significant costs and the major portion of this cost will be covered by corporate sponsorship, online streaming advertisements and The City ancillary business. The company will directly pay for any shortfall that could not be covered through these methods of securing financial resources. BTS will also appear in this concert without any additional fee, and this will be done in a way that embodies the artist’s idea that he wanted to perform for free for many fans in the past,” read the statement.


Ever since the boy band agreed to hold a concert in Busan in order to push the city’s bid for hosting the World Expo 2030, the concert had run into several roadblocks. From rumours of the city urging HYBE to bear the cost of the event to scandals regarding venue booking, this programme has been marred with several controversies from the very beginning.

A recent media report stated that the Busan Asiad Main Stadium ( the location at which the show was supposed to take place earlier) was not in a condition to support a large-scale event as the building had 29 roof panels which were in a damaged state. In 2003, 8 of its panels got damaged, followed by 6 more in 2004. In 2020, 9 panels were blown off during Typhoon Maysak.

Aside from controversies regarding their long-awaited concert in Busan, there had also been several speculations around BTS regarding their military service. While Army (BTS fans) want the South Korean government to exempt the septet from mandatory military service, the government officials did not issue any official statement on the matter. Earlier they were allowed to delay their enlistment, but as Jin the eldest BTS member turned 30 this year, military service seems inevitable.

Earlier a lawmaker from the main opposition the Democratic Party of Korea proposed a revised bill that would exempt the pop stars who have order of merit from the government, from conscription and swap their military service with an alternate one.

However, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily, the nation’s Defense Minister revealed it would be difficult to offer this type of alternative service to BTS due to “aspects of fairness in fulfilling mandatory military service.”

The Daily also revealed that Lee Ki-sik, the commissioner of Military Manpower Administration felt that continuous exemption of the top pop stars from military service might have far-reaching consequences. “It ( military service exemption) may generate feelings of discrimination, discouragement and discrepancy among the younger male generation, many of whom are fulfilling their military duties.”

Titled, ‘Yet to Come’, the show will be held at the Busan Ilgwang special stage at 6 pm KST (9:30 pm KST). International Army will be able to attend the show virtually through live streaming on Weverse.