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BTS member Jeon Jungkook enlisted in the South Korean military alongside bandmate Park Jimin on December 11, 2023, to fulfill his mandatory service. Almost a month later, on January 17, 2024, some images of the 26-year-old singer in uniform surfaced online. The images were reportedly from his military graduation ceremony that was held on the same day.
Both the golden maknae and Jimin graduated with distinction after completing their basic five weeks of military training. Following this, the recruits will be deployed to other divisions or units to carry out their military duties for a required period of 18 to 21 months.
However, fans are happy to see the singer in uniform, they're also curious about the military designation 'Private'.
Fans curious to know Jungkook's military ranking in the Republic of Korea Armed Forces
On January 17, 2024, a X account posted an image of Jungkook in his military uniform. The BTS singer could be seen saluting as part of the graduation ceremony ritual. The user, @young__JK, wrote on X that a fellow military recruit uploaded Jungkook's images online with a caption written on the image disclosing the idol's military designation.
"The pics were uploaded by the trainee. The caption in Korean on these pics are, "Jungkook no matter who looks at" and "He is cool. Except that he is a Private(army ranking).""
The lowest rank of enlisted men in most militaries is "private." In the descending sequence of power, levels in the South Korean military are classified as junior enlisted (or "Byeong"), commissioned officer, warrant officer, non-commissioned officer, or non-commissioned officer. General officers ("Jangseong"; 장성), field-grade officers ("Yeonggwan"; 영관/), and company-grade officers ("Wigwan"; 위관) comprise the ranks of commissioned officers.
In addition, the official titles of the South Korean Armed Forces' three branches—the Army, Navy, and Air Force—are identical in Hangul. The Republic of Korea Armed Forces use the South Korean military ranks as its crest. South Korean rankings are influenced by the US owing to the country's close military ties and the existence of US Forces Korea.
Hence, both Jungkook and Jimin are currently designated as Private and would work up the ranks throughout their service tenure. Similar to how BTS members Jin and J-Hope earned their promotions in the military since their enlistment in December 2022 and April 2023, respectively.
Fans took to X to react to the new images of Jungkook that surfaced online. Some were curious to learn about the intricacies of the "Private" designation of Jungkook in the military, while others swooned over the singer's uniform-clad images.
Most importantly, there are differences in the grades that correspond to private in the various branches of the US armed forces. For example, an airman in the US Air Force and a sailor in the US Navy.
A private in the US, German, and French forces is subordinate to a private first class, who is subordinate to a corporal. The People's Republic of China's army places the private second class below the private first class.
"They will be in the same division": Fans rejoice as Jimin and Jungkook deployed to the 5th division after their graduation ceremony
BTS' Jimin announced his graduation from a five-week fundamental training course in a handwritten letter that he posted on Weverse on January 17, 2024. Meanwhile, Jungkook, sent a one-word message, "Unity," on Weverse on January 17. His one-word statement quickly gained popularity on social media, with followers making "Jungkook came home" a trend.
The duo's graduation ceremony came right on the heels of BTS members Namjoon and Taehyung's graduation ceremony on January 16, 2024. Both the members graduated as two of the six "Elite Soldiers" and even posted images on their respective Instagram handles.
However, Jimin and the GOLDEN singer did not do so since they completed their military training at a different military base that did not allow the use of phones or cameras on a ceremonial day. An online user, @Bunnybear_4evr, translated another Korean netizen's post on X and wrote:
"Unlike Seokjin's enlistment day, recently on enlistment days for 5th division including Jungkook and Jimin's enlistment days, families were allowed to enter only by putting stickers on their cell phone cameras to prevent family members from taking pictures inside. But I don't know what the graduation ceremony will be like today... It's a graduation ceremony, so I thought they let families take pictures inside."
Nevertheless, fans congratulated Jungkook and Jimin for graduating and getting deployed together to the 5th division, where their bandmate Jin is already serving his duty as a Sergeant.
Meanwhile, Kim Namjoon has been deployed to the 15th Infantry Unit of the 2nd Corps of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, according to a Twitter account. Similarly, Kim Taehyung hasn't been deployed to any unit yet since he had previously applied to the Special Mission Task Force, or SDT, unit that carries out counterterrorism missions, tracks military deserters, and more.
Taehyung is currently transferred to the Army Capital Defense School to get an additional three weeks of intense and grueling training before he gets deployed as a Special Mission Unit soldier.
All BTS members intend to resume group activity in 2025 since all of them are currently serving in the military.
