Shuً⁷||💜Arirang💜⁷ @kthzstar - Twitter Profile

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2 days ago

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.

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쪼꼼 @INEEDU_130613

1 day ago

260613 Arirang Tour in Busan - Day 2 🐰 2번 인이어에 7번 목소리 좀 올려주세요 🐻 저도 2번 인이어에 6번 목소리 좀 올려주세요 🐹 왜 내 인이어에 니들 목소리를 키우는데 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 진차 웃기는 진뷔국밥ㅋㅋㅋ #BTSJIN #방탄소년단진 #진 #jin