SEOUL — Two members of K-pop supergroup BTS walked out the gates of a South Korean military base around a dozen miles from the North Korean border Wednesday, flashing smiles and salutes to news cameras and screaming fans as they proudly announced that they had completed their mandatory military service.

Jimin and Jungkook didn’t have to say they were happy to be out of the army — their grins gave it away.

“Honestly, it’s been a while to be in front of a camera … so it’s a little embarrassing,” Jungkook said. Jimin told fans that the military wasn’t an easy place but that he had created great memories and thanked fans for waiting for them.

The discharge of Jimin and Jungkook indicates that BTS, arguably the most popular South Korean boy band ever and a global household name with international hit songs like “Dynamite,” will return to the stage soon. The last time that all seven members performed together was in 2022 in Busan, South Korea.

Six of BTS’s seven members are now civilians, free to tour and perform. Members RM and V ended their stints in the army at a different base in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, eastern Korea this week. Jin and J-Hope were discharged last year. The seventh member, Suga, will be released from his duties later this month.

Most South Korean males are obligated to serve at least 18 months in the active military with some exceptions, such as for high-performing athletes and classical musicians, which none of BTS’s seven members qualified for. The band members announced their intent to fulfill their military duties in 2022, months after they said they would be going on hiatus, triggering tears and grief among the band’s fans across the globe.

Since debuting in 2013, BTS has sold tens of millions of records worldwide, won Grammy nominations and landed at the top of the Billboard 200 chart, earning hundreds of millions of dollars for their labels, Hybe and Big Hit Music. Hybe’s CEO said in a February conference call that the company had relied on BTS for up to 95 percent of its revenue at one point since listing on the South Korean stock exchange in 2020. Hybe has seen its annual revenue grow from $581 million in 2020 to $1.6 billion in 2024.

When Hybe saw its profitability drop in 2024, despite increased overall sales, the company said in a news release in February that one of the key reasons for the fall was BTS’s “temporary break.”

On the walls of Hybe’s headquarters in Yongsan district, Seoul this week, the company put up the words “WE ARE BACK.”