In South Korea, all male citizens between the ages of 18 and 28 must enlist in mandatory military service. This applies to male celebrities who are Korean, as they are obligated to serve their nation.

Hence, these male celebrities take a hiatus in their prime to enlist and return to their fans after completing their mandatory military service. In the case of actors, the hiatus might not be as lengthy since they can return to the screen after a year and a half or two years. However, for male K-pop idol groups, things are different since the group has to wait for all the members to return from their military service before performing as a whole group again.

K-netizens recently pointed out the downside of having idol group members enlist one by one and brought up Super Junior as an example. One Super Junior fan in 2016 explained, "Should I tell you something that will let you realize how horrifying idol group members enlisting one by one is? Super Junior fans weren't able to see the group as a whole since 2010. I don't think we'll be able to see them back until 2018."

In fact, the last member of Super Junior to be discharged from his mandatory military service was Kyuhyun, who returned back in May 2019. Therefore, it took nearly nine years for all Super Junior members to finish their mandatory military service. Likewise, for K-pop idol groups, fans need to wait more than just a year and a half to see their favorite group back.

That is why some K-pop fans prefer that the entire group enlist together to shorten the length of their hiatus, but some want the group members to enlist separately.

K-netizens commented, "How long will Seventeen take for all members to finish their mandatory service? all I can do is think of them since they have so many members," "I think it would be harder to wait during the hiatus if all members enlisted. If they enlist separately, then the members can promote individually during that time," "I think it's better if a lot of the members go to the military together and come back as a whole faster," "Was there a group that enlisted all together and made a quick comeback?" "The group should rack up a lot of content before enlisting and enlist together as a group and come back," "I definitely think members enlisting separately is better since you can still see the other members," and "The group can do unit promotions if they enlist separately."

What do you think is the best?