Three years of mandatory military service punched a $3.6 billion annual hole in South Korea's economy. Last night, in the same Busan stadium where they said goodbye before enlisting, on their 13th debut anniversary, BTS started filling it back in.
The $3.6 billion figure came from the Hyundai Research Institute. This wasn't from album sales. It came from 1 in every 13 foreign tourists visiting Korea because of the group, the hotels those tourists filled, the cosmetics they shipped home, the restaurants that stayed packed for days around every show. The Hyundai estimate put their annual economic output in the same range as Korean Air. South Korea's government spent years debating whether to grant military exemptions to all seven members.
In October 2022, before enlisting, BTS played their final group concert in Busan. Free. 50,000 in-person at Busan Asiad Main Stadium, 49 million streaming online. Korea's Culture and Tourism Institute estimated that single free show generated $660 million in economic activity for the city. Two members, Jimin and Jungkook, grew up there. The city lit Gwangan Bridge purple, the group's signature color, and kept it lit for weeks.
Then everyone went quiet. Jin enlisted first, December 2022. By late 2023, all seven were in uniform. HYBE, the entertainment company that manages BTS, watched its stock nearly halve over the following year. Concert revenue, merch sales, and fan events all fell.
Suga was last, discharged June 21, 2025.
Through its first two months on the road, the ARIRANG World Tour has grossed $124 million from 660,000 tickets. Tampa alone pulled $40.7 million over three nights, more than the Seoul and Tokyo legs combined. South Korean analysts expect the full tour to bring in between $1.3 billion and $1.87 billion by March 2027. The Love Yourself Tour in 2018 and 2019 made $187 million total across 38 shows. ARIRANG has cleared two-thirds of that, and it's June.
The name they chose for all of this: Arirang. Korea's unofficial national anthem, a folk song over 600 years old with 3,600 regional variations, UNESCO-listed since 2012. Banned during Japan's 35-year occupation of Korea. Sung in both North and South Korea, one of the few things crossing that political border. Korea's National Folk Museum calls it the cultural DNA of the Korean people. BTS named their comeback after a song about separation, endurance, and return.
Last night in Busan, same stadium, Gwangan Bridge lit purple again. 55,000 paid tickets instead of zero. Less than a year back from service, NH Financial Group now projects BTS fan spending hitting $6.58 billion a year in South Korea by 2040. Nearly double what they generated before enlisting.
The first questions we're bringing in together! 🗣️💜
1) What are the pros and cons you
have faced with the 360 stage this tour?
이번 투어에서 360도 무대를 하면서 직면한 장단점이 뭔가요?💭👨🎤
2) Is there anything you learned
from previous tours that influenced how you prepared for this tour, whether
it’s your equipment, setlist planning, rest and etc?
이전 투어에서 배운 것 중에 이번 투어 준비에 영향을 준 것이 있나요? 예를 들어 장비, 셋리스트 구성, 휴식 같은 부분에서요?🎤🏟
3) If you were born in the Joseon
Dynasty, what position in society do you think you would have?
만약 조선시대에 태어났다면 사회적 지위가 어떻게 되었을 거라고 생각해요?🏰📜
4) If you could become a master at
cooking one dish, what dish would that be?
한 가지 요리의 달인이 될 수 있다면 어떤 요리를 선택하고 싶나요?🍳👨🍳
5) What is a rabbit hole/
conspiracy theory that you have been interested in lately?
- 요즘 관심 있는 음모론이나 래빗 홀이 있나요?🛸🔎
6) If you could magically
communicate with animals tomorrow, which animal would you want to first
communicate with?
만약 내일부터 동물들과 마법처럼 소통할 수 있다면 제일 먼저 어떤 동물과 이야기하고 싶어요?🗣🦄
THE PLAN: The moment the Tannies go live, copy this text and head over to Weverse! If we all drop it at the same time, we can make sure it actually gets seen! 📲✨
Let's work together as one fandom for a more organized and meaningful live interaction with the Tannies! Copy it, keep it ready, and let's make it land! 🚀☕️
#armytwt #bangtantearoom #whatsuptannies
Namjoon on weverse:
Hello. On this beautiful day, I am writing to you for the first time in a while.I do not particularly like or deeply believe in the phrase "someone saving someone else." However, having undeservedly heard such words from time to time, it makes me look back and realize that perhaps I, too, was saved by all of you.I am trying to live my life more simply, cleanly, or perhaps more boldly than before. The moments I fall into deep sentimentality have decreased significantly. Even so, the fact that the world is still a sad place seems unavoidable, no matter how many happy days there are. Then again, maybe it is actually because I am just so happy.I have shared so many words and thrown so many sounds your way. I do not exactly know which melody or which pebble managed to reach each of you sitting here right now. Yet, I feel like I will always be someone who keeps sending and throwing things out like that—just as I did thirteen years ago, and just as I will in the future. As long as there is all of you to listen. It brings me immense joy that we can create memories together and grow older year by year. I love that I can still shout out to someone. Time and again, I see myself through you. Do you experience that too?Thank you once again for sharing this precious anniversary with me. Today is Saturday the 13th, an incomparably beautiful day. No matter what anyone says about what this means, I want to keep building anniversaries and memories that only we know deep in our hearts. As always, I look forward to our time together. I love you
Joon I love you so much🙁💙
A little update today.
I’ve had countless people messaging me about the girls my inlaws took in. What started as 15 girls quickly became 20 because at around 4am they had to go and collect another five girls who were stranded on Gwangalli Beach after missing the bus. On top of that, one girl’s hotel cancelled her booking and then had the audacity to try and charge her an outrageous amount for a replacement room.
Honestly, it’s an absolute disgrace.
No one should have been left in that situation in the first place. Thankfully, there are still genuinely kind hearted people out there. Some of the girls will be dropped off at the venue today, while others will be taken to the airport. I’ve also heard that more residents in the Haeundae area have stepped up and opened their homes to stranded people who had nowhere else to go.
The fact that ordinary people are having to clean up this mess says everything.
🐯 We've never actually performed Louder Than Bombs right?
🐥 We've not even sang it, let alone perform it
🐨 the song Troye Sivan participated in making!
🐯 I don't even remember the lyrics
🐥 It's such a good song