BTS member V came to the defense of a fellow boot camp trainee after some fans criticized him for sharing too many stories about the K-pop megastar.

The colleague, who said he trained alongside V at an army boot camp, recently uploaded around eight videos on Instagram recounting military experiences involving V. The videos included titles such as “How I ended up aiming to become an elite trainee alongside BTS’s Taehyung” and “The game BTS’s Taehyung and I played most often at boot camp.” V's real name is Kim Tae-hyung.


After seeing the videos, V personally left a comment, writing, “Long time no see. Your memory is no joke.”

However, some fans expressed concern that the videos might be revealing too many personal stories. Amid the controversy, the fellow trainee announced that he would stop uploading videos sharing his boot camp experience.

“I just wanted to show through these videos what a good person Taehyung is,” he said. “Since so many people have expressed concerns, I think it would be right to stop uploading after this video.”

V responded to the post by supporting him and encouraging him to make more videos.

“Hey, why? Spread it even further. I’m enjoying it,” V wrote in the comments. “I can’t even remember.”

The fellow boot camp trainee ultimately changed his mind and said he planned to continue uploading videos.

Despite V’s support, the controversy continued, leading V to address the matter directly in a lengthy comment on Wednesday.

“Though it seems that many people are appreciating your video that you put so much effort into, it also looks like there are some people a little concerned,” V wrote. “First of all, I really enjoyed them.”

He continued, “Sometimes in life, even when something is done with good intentions, people can interpret it differently because everyone sees things from a different perspective. I hope you don’t worry too much about every opinion,” adding, “For some, it may have looked strange because you uploaded them in so many short clips. It’s understandable why people might have gotten the wrong idea.”

V also recalled their time together in the military saying that the colleague was the “ace” of their platoon and that enjoyed his time with him while serving.

“To be honest, I think it may be difficult for people who didn’t live through those experiences with us to fully understand what we felt,” V said.

“I’m leaving this comment because I’m worried you might be stressing over these reactions while doing bench presses,” V added as his fellow boot camp trainee primarily posts gym-related content.

“I hope you won’t take it too much to heart. I’m always rooting for you. I can’t remember what your dream was, but since you’re in such great shape, I guess you’re a bodybuilder. You've got this.”

V enlisted in December 2023 and served in the army’s special duty team unit, which is similar to the police’s SWAT team, before being discharged in June last year.

BTS is currently on its “Arirang” world tour. The group is scheduled to perform in Busan on June 12 and 13.


This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]