BTS's J-Hope, who was scheduled to be the host for the '2023 International Military Cooking Competition,' has had his role canceled due to the intervention of the Minister of National Defense, with the intent of not assigning additional duties to celebrities serving in the military, allowing them to focus on their military service.

Minister Shin Won-sik stated during a National Assembly Budget Settlement Special Committee meeting on the morning of the 7th that he instructed not to assign duties outside of military service to celebrity soldiers.

Earlier, it was discussed to have J-Hope (Jung Hoseok), who is currently serving as an instructor at the 36th Infantry Division's Basic Training Center, participate as the co-host for the main competition of the '2023 International Military Cooking Competition.' However, it was reported that Minister Shin himself put a stop to this plan.

Regarding this matter, Minister Shin explained, "There was a suggestion to including a BTS member (J-Hope) to host the event," and added, "The fact that BTS members, including J-Hope, perform their military duties diligently, just like other soldiers, being such a good role model for the people, and considered it as their essential duty and refused (to allow them to participate)."

In response, the majority of netizens welcomed the decision not to involve celebrity soldiers in military events. Many expressed the opinion that they hope celebrity soldiers will continue to quietly fulfill their military service.

J-Hope enlisted as an active-duty soldier on April 18th this year. Following Jin, J-Hope is the second BTS member to enlist and is currently serving as an instructor at the 36th Infantry Division's Basic Training Center, with his discharge scheduled for October 17, 2024. Currently, among the seven BTS members, J-Hope and Jin are serving as active-duty soldiers in the army, while Suga began his alternative civilian service as a public service worker on September 22.