{"id":573802,"date":"2026-04-09T11:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T11:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/573802\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T11:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T11:58:08","slug":"thousands-of-fans-gather-as-bts-launches-world-tour-in-south-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/573802\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of fans gather as BTS launches world tour in South Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEOUL (AP) \u2014 A huge crowd of BTS<\/a> fans packed into a stadium near Seoul on Thursday to see the K-pop supergroup kick off their long-awaited world tour.<\/p>\n

Returning to the stage after a nearly four-year hiatus, RM, Jin, Suga, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook will perform a set drawing from both their catalog and new fifth album, \u201cARIRANG,” their first since band members completed South Korea’s mandatory military service.<\/p>\n

Despite pouring rain, Thursday\u2019s crowd packed a stadium with a capacity for over 40,000 for the show, which marks the group\u2019s first headline tour performance since their 2021\u201322 Permission to Dance on Stage tour.<\/p>\n

The shows in South Korea, running through April 12, launch a global tour spanning dozens of shows across the United States, Europe and Asia, which analysts say could generate hundreds of million<\/a> s of dollars in revenue per quarter.<\/p>\n

The concert comes less than a month after BTS marked their comeback with a free concert at Seoul\u2019s Gwanghwamun Square.<\/p>\n

All seven members of BTS completed their mandatory military service, with Suga being the last to be discharged in June 2025. He reportedly served at government-related facilities and organizations instead of military camps due to a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

In South Korea, all able-bodied men between 18 and 28 years old are required by law to perform up to 21 months of military service under a conscription system meant to deter aggression from rival North Korea.<\/p>\n

\u201cARIRANG\u201d \u2014 named after a centuries-old Korean folk song<\/a> regarded as an unofficial anthem across the Korean peninsula \u2014 debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The single \u201cSwim\u201d also made it to the top of the charts.<\/p>\n

BTS \u2014 short for Bangtan Sonyeondan, or \u201cBulletproof Boy Scouts\u201d in Korean \u2014 debuted in June 2013. The seven-member group launched in 2013 with the hip-hop heavy single album \u201c2 Cool 4 Skool,\u201d releasing three full-length projects before really gaining momentum with their 2016 album \u201cWings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their global breakthrough came in 2017 when \u201cDNA\u201d entered the Billboard Hot 100, making BTS the first Korean boy band to achieve such a feat. The song\u2019s success was followed by a performance at the American Music Awards, further fueling their international fan base called \u201cArmy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band’s world tour heads to Tokyo next, before moving through North America, Europe, South America and Asia. BTS is set to play Australian in early 2027, with a final stop in Manila next March.\u200b<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This version corrects that all seven members completed their military service, instead of six of seven members.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEOUL (AP) \u2014 A huge crowd of BTS fans packed into a stadium near Seoul on Thursday to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[252474,92201,88,252473,252472,169189,216,1866,93214],"class_list":{"0":"post-573802","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-band-members","9":"tag-bts","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-global-tour","12":"tag-mandatory-military-service","13":"tag-military-service","14":"tag-music","15":"tag-south-korea","16":"tag-world-tour"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}