Acclaimed K-pop group BTS announced a hiatus after nine years together.

The Grammy-nominated group announced their break at their FESTA dinner. This is an annual event BTS   celebrates with its fans, the ARMYs,  commemorating their debut on the K-pop scene. At this nineyear anniversary celebration, the members announced that they will be branching out into their solo projects following the release of their anthology album, “PROOF.”

The group came to this conclusion to find their own identities as artists. During the dinner, they said that they feel as though the group has lost a sense of direction.

‘I always thought that BTS was different from other groups, but the problem with K-pop and the whole idol system is that they don’t give you time to mature,” group leader RM said.

This announcement immediately ushered in a strong reaction among fans.

Rumors began to circulate, speculating the reason for the sudden break, which was mistaken for a longterm disbandment.

In South Korea, men are required to enlist in the military between the ages of 18-28 and serve for approximately 20 months.  Many speculated this as the cause for the temporary pause — as one of the members, Jin, is due for his service at 30-years-old in Korean age. However, this was quickly proven untrue by fellow-group member Jungkook.

In a Vlive — a live streaming service frequently used by K-pop idols — Jungkook explained that this is not a hiatus for any other reason than the members wanting to reenergize.

“BTS is forever,” Jungkook said on the live video.

He explained that they will still be filming their variety TV series, “RUN BTS,” during this downtime.

The original break announcement that  started this public response was actually due to a mistranslation at the FESTA dinner. This error made it seem like the band was potentially going on a long-term hiatus and disbanding.

Members RM, Jungkook, Jin, Jimin, Suga, J-hope and V admit that pausing the group was a difficult choice to make. To ease the public outrage, V said  that BTS will not be disbanding for good and that  “later, when we gather again as a group, that synergy will be like no other.”

Suga, J-hope and RM will continue expanding their previous solo projects while other members will explore their own style.

BTS’s contract with Big Hit Entertainment is currently secured until 2027 — until then, fans do not have to worry about potential disbandment.

As said in the group’s recent title track “Yet To Come” from their album, “Yeah, the past was honestly the best/But my best is what comes next.”