Mutant Salt

BTS Through the Eyes of Korean Middle-Aged Men Yesterday after work, I met up with my old Seoul National University friends for the first time in a long while. We are all middle-aged professionals. Two are married with children, and two of us are still single. Over soju, makgeolli, and endless anju, we spent the whole night talking about family, kids, work, and aging. Then, unexpectedly, the conversation turned to BTS. One of the friends is a lawyer. During SUGA’s incident two years ago, he helped me understand what was happening legally and what would likely happen next, which I later relayed to my ARMY friends who were anxious and confused. Anyway, my lawyer friend suddenly brought up the footage of the enormous crowd gathered outside the Mexican Presidential Palace when BTS visited the president. He said that, in his life, he had only ever seen crowds like that for the Pope. The others had seen the clips too, and they were all amazed by it. I am the only ARMY among us, but one friend casually listens to BTS songs, another has a wife who is a dedicated ARMY and attends every concert in Korea, and the last one mostly knows BTS through television and social media. We talked about how much pride BTS has brought to Korea. And because we are all politically liberal, we also talked about how meaningful it feels to see BTS openly support values we believe in. They supported former Democratic president Moon Jae-in, went to the United Nations to speak about mental health, and have donated enormous amounts of money and time to good causes over the years. They also all fulfilled their mandatory military service honorably and with distinction. I also brought up the recent backlash questioning BTS’s masculinity, and my friends could not understand it at all. They never viewed BTS as anything other than masculine men. We admire men who are hardworking, responsible, emotionally grounded, respectful toward others, and empathetic. BTS embodies those qualities. What is more masculine than that? The same feeling exists in the Korean online community that I belong to. Most of the members are middle-aged professional men, and BTS is held in very high regard there too. And throughout the years, across more than a hundred posts about BTS, I have never seen anyone question their masculinity, humanity, or worth. Some of posts about BTS received over 5,000 views and over 100 comments, yet not once did I come across a negative comment about BTS. Quite the opposite, actually. Some even jokingly call RM “hyung” because of how thoughtful and mature he comes across in his writing, speeches, and actions. I can say this clearly: We middle-aged Korean men view BTS very positively and see them as unquestionably masculine. We see them as a source of national pride and as strong role models for younger generations.