BTS’s Jin, officially discharged from the military on June 12, held a live broadcast with fans. During the broadcast, he apologized for the controversy regarding his hug event.
He started off the broadcast by sharing his thoughts about completing the military.
It feels strange saying this, but I had a good time in the military. Soldiers are called warriors, and those in higher ranks, such as sergeants, are called executives. I created a good relationship between the ranks. Everyone cried because of the good vibes. I cried twice. It was awkward, and I wanted to look more handsome, but it didn’t work out.
— Jin
He then touched base on the hug event that would be a part of the 2024 FESTA and apologized to fans.
“I need to talk about ‘FESTA’. I gave a good idea, but it received a lot of criticism. I took a look at it so let me try to explain. I took a draft with me from the start. Since I am in charge of the FESTA by myself this time, I contacted the organizer around October, November last year. But they were honest and said they already planned everything so there wasn’t much left to do.
They asked me if I had any ideas. I said I wanted to do a free hug event, but they said no. So I asked what they planned on doing, and they said, ‘We usually rent a park, don’t we? We plan on doing it there’ and insisted on it for about a month.
From the company’s view, there were safety issues for these types of events, so I asked them to do it indoors. The plan was to hold the event and give hugs to the winners. Although the company said it would be hard to do it the day after being discharged, I told them I wanted to hug 3,000 people. Then it became 1,000 people.
After that, I don’t think I paid much attention to it. I am sorry. The company and I prepared this event with good intentions. It became like this because I really wanted to hug many fans. I hope you can accept this with your hearts.”
— Jin
He also hoped that his personal opinion and situation regarding this incident would not be a burden to the other members.
“The hug event was my opinion, and I don’t think the other members will do it. I did it because I wanted to, and I hope this situation won’t be passed on to the other members. I don’t want people to say, ‘Jin did it, why aren’t they doing it.’
I just really wanted to hug everyone with all my heart. Although there were other options like fan sign events and high-touch events, I wanted to hug everyone, so I discussed a lot with the company and ultimately won. I hope no one makes this about, ’so-and-so did it, what about them.’”
— Jin
Previously, Jin’s hug event received much criticism regarding the application guidelines.
