RM, the leader of K-pop sensation BTS, has said the group had at times grappled with whether to disband or suspend activities during its hiatus as it is preparing a full-group comeback next spring.

BTS is scheduled to reunite as a full group next year as all seven members completed their mandatory military service earlier this year.


While RM said preparations for BTS' new album are well underway for the comeback, he also acknowledged that the group had at times grappled with whether to disband or suspend activities.

"[We've] thought for tens of thousands of times whether it would be good for us to disband or to suspend activities,” RM said Saturday during a live broadcast on the K-pop fan community platform Weverse." What has kept this team going is how much we love each other, and the love and respect we have for those watching this livestream.”

RM said work on the new album is progressing steadily. In July, BTS announced it would return with a new album featuring all seven members, and launch a world tour next spring.

“Preparations for the album are almost being made,” RM said. We practiced together yesterday. We are filming [content] and practicing every day,” he said. “We will show you after we prepare well.”

If released as planned, it will mark the band's first full-group album and concert in nearly four years since the release of the anthology album “Proof” and the “Yet to Come in Busan” concert in 2022.

According to a Bloomberg report, BTS is set to hold 65 performances around the world, more than 30 in North America alone. That would mark the septet's largest tour to date.

BY YOON SO-YEON, YONHAP [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]