K-pop pioneers BTS's time-out leaves fans tearful, investors irate

SEOUL, June 15 (Reuters) – Okay-pop pioneers BTS confronted tears and sympathy from followers however anger from shareholders of their administration firm on Wednesday, a day after the band, pleading exhaustion, introduced a break from group musical actions to pursue solo tasks.

Many in South Korea reacted with shock and dismay at Tuesday’s information that, with a few of its seven members approaching navy service age, additionally triggered hypothesis about the way forward for a band whose upbeat hits and messages of youth empowerment have turned them into world stars.

“I might relate to them as they shed tears and actually informed us how they felt,” fan Nini Lee informed Reuters from a café in Seoul the place she had gathered with different followers.

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“Their voice gave me enormous energy once I had powerful occasions, and I am not afraid of such headwinds …Now I need to give my voice of braveness to them.”.

Kim Younger-sun, who runs the cafe, mentioned she felt sorry that she as a fan had solely wished extra from BTS at a time after they had been struggling, wishing them a well-deserved break to recharge their batteries.

BTS Chief and rapper RM, in a tearful video launched on Tuesday on the ninth anniversary of a gaggle that final 12 months turned the primary Asian band to win artist of the 12 months on the American Music Awards, mentioned he had “felt responsible and afraid” to ask for the remainder that he desperately wanted.

Singer Jimin mentioned they had been struggling to search out their identification in what he known as an “exhausting course of,” whereas RM additionally lamented that the Okay-pop trade couldn’t present younger artists with “time to mature”.

On social media, another followers blamed BTS’ administration group HYBE for relentlessly pushing for brand spanking new albums and different moneymaking alternatives. learn extra

The corporate didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

“The Okay-pop and idol trade had lengthy been operating on a profit-making system the place the celebrities can not take a relaxation even after they burned themselves out,” mentioned Jung Duk-hyun, a South Korean cultural critic.

SHAREHOLDER ‘DYNAMITE’

Tuesday’s surprising announcement fuelled anger amongst traders in HYBE, which went public two years in the past and whose shares (352820.KS) plunged 25% on Wednesday, wiping almost 2 trillion received ($1.55 billion) off its market worth.

“They’ve planted ‘dynamite’ within the hearts of shareholders,” one wrote on a Samsung Securities inventory buying and selling platform, referring to one of many group’s hit songs.

HYBE shares had carried out comparatively poorly in latest months, and the corporate’s chief government and a few BTS members unloaded inventory totalling 10 billion received ($7.75 million) in December.

All able-bodied South Korean males are topic to about two years of navy service, and the oldest member of BTS, Jin, is required to start his responsibility subsequent 12 months.

A invoice pushing for offering navy exemptions to globally famend artists is pending in parliament, amid extended debate over whether or not BTS deserves comparable advantages that sport athletes take pleasure in.

Lee Ki-hoon, an analyst at Hana Monetary Funding Co. Ltd., wrote in a report that BTS’ lack of public exercise together with the impression of navy service might end in a 750 billion received income loss in 2023.

($1 = 1,290.1600 received)