Two more of SEVENTEEN‘s 13 members are preparing to perform their mandatory military service. PLEDIS Entertainment announced on Monday (July 7) via Weverse that group members WOOZI and HOSHI will be the next to enlist, with WOOZI set to begin his service on Sept. 15, with HOSHI following the next day.
The company also noted that the two men are set for the HOSHI X WOOZI FAN CONCERT [WARNING], a five-city event set to take July 11-13 in Seoul, South Korea; July 19-20 in Busan, South Korea; July 26-27 in Taipei, Taiwan; Aug. 6-7 in Japan; and Aug. 23-24 in Gwangju, South Korea. Also among the pair’s final official group activities before beginning their service is a SEVENTEEN Fifth Studio Album Yizhiyu video call fan signing. PLEDIS added that though WOOZI and HOSHI won’t be a part of the K-pop group’s activities while they’re enlisted, the two will be dropping pre-recorded content for CARATs
Though there are 13 members in SEVENTEEN, only nine are required to enlist for South Korea’s mandatory military service, which lasts from 18 to 21 months. WONWOO and JEONGHAN have already begun their service, but four will not have to serve: Joshua is a citizen of the United States, THE 8 and JUN are Chinese citizens, while S.COUPS is exempt due to an ACL injury.
“This is something that has been inevitable for us all along,” HOSHI told The Hollywood Reporter in May of the upcoming enlistments. “We have been prepared. We have a lot of projects that we have discussed with [Hybe] very thoroughly up until now.”
The group has been busy celebrating its 10th anniversary recently, releasing fifth studio album HAPPY BURSTDAY on May 26. The set arrived at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 dated June 14, and debuted at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart, selling 46,000 copies, according to Luminate.
Among the promotion for the album was WOOZI and HOSHI’s appearance on the Korean cooking-variety show Chef and My Fridge, which also streams on Netflix. For the show, the two musicians combined the contents of their fridge, and using what was available, the show’s celebrity chefs cooked two meals according to the stars’ requests. Members SEUNGKWAN, THE 8, VERNON and MINGYU also appeared on BuzzFeed Celeb’s popular “Thirst Tweets” video series, during which the guys hilariously roasted each other.
While the majority of the members of SEVENTEEN perform their military duties, S.COUPS says CARATs could still expect to hear from the four who will not be enlisting. “I think this can be a great opportunity for the members who are still remaining,” he noted in the THR feature. “[We] can stick together and make something great to showcase to the fans.”
Watch the teaser for HOSHI and WOOZI’s upcoming fan concert below:
