ARMYs erupted with joy on January 1 as a new photo of BTS' RM emerged, kicking off 2025 with his fresh military look as he completes his compulsory service.
However, the excitement quickly turned sour after an X user noticed RM's military name tag with an additional swastika badge, and accused him of wearing the Nazi symbol.
"Namjoon of BTS has been wearing the Nazi sign in his name tag for his military service," one internet user said in a now-deleted tweet, prompting hate comments about the idol.
In Korean, this symbol (卍) has cultural and religious significance, particularly in Buddhism, where it represents auspiciousness, eternity, and the Buddha's teachings. It is not associated with the Nazi symbol, which is rotated and has a completely different meaning. pic.twitter.com/JTZ2mpBQ0u
— cié დ (@Iivserene) January 1, 2025
Quickly, ARMYs jumped to the BTS leader's defense and explained its true meaning. They clarified that it was actually a sign used in Buddhism, a religion that RM respects.
In South Korea, military name tags add certain symbols (e.g., cross † for Christianity), which reflect the religious duties that the officer performed inside the camp.
Haters and losers don't have anything to do except being dumb and pathetic. In their new nonsense, they are spreading misinformation about Namjoon and his military badge and try to start hate train against him.
— 𝚁𝙼 𝙶𝚄𝙸𝙳𝙴⁷ (@kimnamjoonguide) January 1, 2025
The badge Namjoon is wearing belongs to military officers who are… pic.twitter.com/SWhPu5dZ1u
Namjoon literally did 108 bows at a temple the day before his enlistment, and we all know he respects Buddhism. Yet some people are really out here mixing up a Buddhist symbol with a Nazi one, showing their lack of education. Educate yourselves before opening your mouths. pic.twitter.com/zs9wbyn39G
— Suchwita (@MyLoving2Seok) January 2, 2025
So blinks are now calling Lord Buddha a Nazi all because yall hate Namjoon? Yall reached new low!
— Anti-Twinks (@fvcktroll) January 1, 2025
This first image is lord buddha if you dont know.
Rm wears that badge because he's the military officer who performs religious duties for buddhism within his military unit. https://t.co/DHc0Msy65U pic.twitter.com/TH1rPOtVBW
🆘️🆘️🆘️🆘️
— 𝚁𝙼 𝙶𝚄𝙸𝙳𝙴⁷ (@kimnamjoonguide) January 1, 2025
This loser went private. Keep reporting in all categories and try to take their account down.
The level of their obsession with Namjoon is dangerous. They are trying to start another big hate train but talking about Nazi is not a joke. It's a serious issue. pic.twitter.com/YVCvE7vOlw
Looking into history, Buddhism originally used the yellow swastika facing left to remind its cultural and religious significance, until the Nazis appropriated this. They used the one facing right tilted it pointing upwards and changed its color to black, as per the 108 Yoga Retreats.
In response, ARMYs counterattacked the account that started the accusation and stopped the misinformation by spreading RM's tag's true meaning.
"Educate yourselves before opening your mouth," one ARMY wrote in another post.
"They are trying to start another big hate train but talking about Nazis is not a joke. It's a serious issue," another fan said.
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