Entertainment
EXO star Chanyeol says goodbye to fans ahead of military enlistment as active duty soldier
EXO star Chanyeol has begun his military enlistment, becoming the fifth member of the K-pop group to do so.
On Monday the rapper and singer shared an Instagram picture of himself wearing band mate D.O.’s – real name Kyungsoo – watch as he went to begin his basic military training.
After training he will be joining a unit to serve as an active duty soldier.
The K-pop star, wearing a black hat, jacket and face mask, held his wrist over his face to show off the accessory.
He added the caption ‘Good bye’ and the hashtag ‘Kyung Soo’s watch.’
EXO’s label SM Entertainment did not reveal the time or location of his enlistment to keep it private.
Chanyeol was last seen in public to promote his film The Box, for which he recorded the song Break Your Box that appears on the soundtrack.
On the online community of EXO’s fandom EXO-L, he left the message: ‘I’ll be back safely. Don’t worry about me.’
It came after the EXO-SC star left a handwritten message, which was shared by the Twitter account of The Box. It read: ‘The past year, I’m so happy that I was able to film a movie and sing songs.
‘To everyone who is always by my side, thank you. The Box is still showing & will be released in Asia later on. Please give the OST lots of love, too. I will safely go to the army.’
Rules state that all able-bodied South Korean men between the ages of 18 and 28 must serve in the military for about two years.
He is the fifth EXO star to enlist after Xiumin, D.O., Suho and most recently Chen, who previously revealed he had got married and welcomed a baby girl in April 2020. Xiumin and D.O. have already completed their service and been officially discharged.
The Call Me Baby singers are also made up of Baekhyun, Kai, Sehun and Lay.
EXO’s last comeback was Obsession in 2019.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.