On BTS’s birthday, worldwide fans celebrate their favorite band — and each other

GOYANG, Gyeonggi — Rosa, a devoted BTS fan since 2020, vividly remembers the moment that member Jin was discharged from his mandatory military service almost exactly a year ago. He came out on June 12, just a day before the band’s 11th anniversary.

“I thought to myself, ‘Here comes the first one — the rest aren’t that far away either,’” said the Seoul-based fan who had been waiting for nearly an hour to get a BTS-themed scented sachet on June 13.

For Rosa, and likely tens of thousands of other fans gathered for the event that day, two years without BTS felt “kind of long.” But while she waited, she tried to do what she thought the members would suggest: Live life fully.

BTS fans, known collectively as ARMY, buzzed with excitement around her on the sweltering Friday afternoon. Some stood in seemingly endless lines, under quite intense summer heat, for exclusive gifts reserved for paid ARMY members. Many were adorned in various shades of purple, a signature color that symbolizes the bond between BTS and ARMY. The lines continued inside the sprawling 280,000-square-foot Kintex exhibition center in Goyang, Gyeonggi, where the weekend’s 2025 BTS Festa In-Person Event was taking place.

For those who somehow missed it: BTS, arguably the biggest boy band in the world right now, marks its 12th anniversary with an online and offline event titled BTS Festa every year around June 13, the date on which it debuted in 2013.

This year’s celebration, which began on June 13 and ran through Saturday, was bigger than ever. The band commemorated not only its 12th anniversary, but also the end of a two-and-a-half-year hiatus during which the seven members have, on a somewhat staggered schedule, completed their mandatory military service. It also coincided with the final two concerts of J-Hope’s solo “Hope on the Stage” world tour, which took place at Goyang Sports Complex, about a 15-minute walk from Kintex.

And while Friday’s Festa took place in Korea, it was truly a global celebration. International attendees appeared to make up well over half the crowd. Fans from around the world sang, cheered and exchanged gifts just to share their joy. While BTS’s agency, HYBE, organized the event, ARMY came together to perfect it.

Upon entering Kintex, ARMY was greeted by a giant ARMY Bomb — the nickname for BTS’s official light stick — standing at the center of Hall 9. The spacious hall was connected to Hall 10, in which a giant white whale a key motif of the BTS “Whalien 52” (2015), was installed.

A variety of interactive zones and programs surrounded the centerpieces. Fans could print out photo cards, decorate scented sachets with BTS lyrics printed on them, play a game to stop a timer exactly at 6 minutes and 13 seconds, customize pins, take a photo with the band in an augmented reality photo booth and even listen to voice messages from its members. HYBE provided interpreters for English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean Sign Language.

The wait for some of the most popular programs was longer than an hour.

In the heartfelt, two-and-a-half-minute voice messages, the seven members shared how much they missed ARMY — and how excited they are for their new chapter. “I can’t even begin to imagine what our long break must have been like for you,” said RM.

“I’ve also been missing you so much,” the group leader stressed. “For real, see you soon.”
“This is the year I get to see ARMY again, so I’m so, so excited,” said Jungkook. “We’ve missed each other so much and I’m excited to see you already.”

Jin, the band’s oldest member, was its first to enlist, doing so in December 2022. He was discharged last June, and J-Hope followed in October. V and RM completed their military service on Tuesday, and Jungkook and Jimin finished Wednesday. Suga, currently serving as a social service agent, is set to be discharged on June 21.

For many fans, hearing the members’ voices made waiting a few years — and in the long morning line on Friday — completely worth it. Some have drawn comfort from those same voices for more than a decade now.

“Because I used to struggle with depression and anxieties before, I felt like I was being seen when I listened to Suga’s music,” said Gabriela, a Brazilian ARMY who identified the rapper as her favorite member. “I’ve been trying to live one day at a time, you know, rather than thinking, ‘oh my god, we still have two more years left,’ or something like that.”

Ngoc Anh, a Vietnamese native and ARMY since 2019, said she’d traveled around the world to attend the BTS members’ solo concerts while the group was officially on hiatus. Doing so really helped her through the long pause.

Aside from the jet-setting, “My life was kind of boring during the hiatus,” Anh admitted.

Now that BTS is back together, she really hopes it will visit her home turf. The last time it touched down there was 2016. She’s already crafted a banner with flags of Korea and Vietnam on it in preparation. “I wanted to show that there are so many fans — my friends — in Vietnam supporting BTS,” said Ngoc, showing off the handmade craft.

AnJolie Simeon, a New Yorker who discovered BTS six years ago, when she was 16, became an ARMY because she found the band and its music “genuine.”
 
“I am mostly a ‘music first’ person,” Simeon said while sitting on the floor of Kintex, taking a respite from the surrounding chaos. That’s why BTS is my No. 1.”

The band, she’s confident, will always hold a special place in her heart.

“I’m grateful,” she said. “This is like, something that will always make me happy.”