2AM's Jo Kwon Announces His Return With Letter And Photos After Military Discharge

Mar 23, 2020

2AM’s Jo Kwon is back from the military!

The singer officially made his return on March 24 after completing his mandatory military service, and he posted on Instagram shortly after midnight with a letter and photos from his time in the military.

Jo Kwon opened off his letter with the dates of his enlistment and discharge (August 6, 2018 and March 24, 2020), a rainbow emoji, and a formal announcement of his discharge from his position as a sergeant in the military band.

“I enlisted the year before last in the sweltering heat, and now my military discharge day has finally come, on the 597th day (1 year, 7 months, 18 days) that seemed like it would never arrive,” wrote Jo Kwon. “I sincerely thank you for waiting for me.”

“It wasn’t always easy, and it was also eventful,” he continued. “However, I sincerely want to thank the great people who gave me such strength during my time in the military, including the officers, members of the military band, the military musical officers, and my family, friends, and beloved fans. It’s thanks to you that I was able to be discharged from the military in good health. There were many moments that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life, and there were important times that connect my past, present, and future. Since I rendered my devoted service to the Republic of Korea and did my best at performing all of the tasks I was given, I now think that I also have a lot of happy memories.”

“I’m now reservist Jo Kwon,” he wrote. “I’m going to return to my regular job of being Jo Kwon the singer. Please look forward to the rainbow-colored various appearances that I’m planning and show support! Thank you. Salute!!!”

He added in parentheses, “This isn’t a dream, right.. I won’t open my eyes to find I’m back at the training center.” Jo Kwon ended his post by explaining that due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), he had left for his ETS leave and then been discharged on March 24. It is the current military protocol that soldiers set to be discharged do not return to their base following ETS leave. He also wrote that Hongcheon in Gangwon province, where he was carrying out his service, does not have any confirmed COVID-19 cases. “I hope that COVID-19 quickly comes to an end,” he wrote, and added the hashtag #KEEPGOING.

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He went on to share a clever cake he’d received to celebrate his discharge, which is a play on messages in the subway. It reads, “This station is Jun Yeok station,” as “Jun Yeok” (전역) in Korean means “military discharge.” It shows what looks like a subway station wall with the previous station being “enlistment” and the next station being “society.”