"Dumb and pathetic"- Fans enraged as BTS Namjoon's Buddhism military badge gets misunderstood for the Nazi symbol

On Wednesday, January 1, a picture of BTS' Namjoon in his military uniform with a fan landed on the internet. In the same, the idol's uniform had a name tag with a Buddhist symbol in between. This is to indicate that the idol is part of the group of military officers who take part in religious duties.

Therefore, Namjoon likely has been responsible for a few Buddhist practices and activities in the military base. However, when the image landed on the internet, several people misunderstood it for the Nazi symbol. This was because both Buddhism and the Nazi symbol are said to look similar.

Regardless, when fans saw the accusations of Namjoon's alleged Nazi ideologies, they were angered and frustrated at the same. People criticized the netizens for not being able to tell the difference between the two symbols and also called them out for spreading misinformation and harmful rumours about BTS' Namjoon. Here are a few fan reactions regarding the same:

"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."

"Some people need to start educating themselves before hitting that post button," said a fan on X.

"this is my thing about stan wars like who gaf if you like them or not this is literally just racist," added another fan.

"these people are kpop fans yet they can't seem to respect Asian cultures....." commented a netizen.

More fans and netizens talked about how they were frustrated with people misunderstaning Namjoon's religious military badge.

"I'm not even Buddhist or Hindu but even I know that that's a religious symbol for some religions, how uneducated do you got to be to twt this sh*t," stated a fan.

"how dumb do you have to be to think they would let people in the military wear the nazi symbol? LMAO," added a netizen.

"Ridiculous that it even has to be cleared up tbh but some people are mad mad that the return is around the corner," commented an X user.

"Ima need the schools not to close and for y’all to have an OUNCE of common sense and open a history book or a search engine," said another X user.

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All you need to know about BTS' Namjoon and his recent solo activities

BTS' RM or Kim Nam-joon is a 30-year-old South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He debuted under Big Hit Entertainment, now rebranded as HYBE Labels, in 2013. He currently stands as a rapper and the leader of the seven-piece K-pop boy group, BTS.

The idol's solo career began in 2015 when he released his first mixtape, RM, which he followed with his second mixtape release in 2018 called mono. Namjoon also rolled out solo tracks through BTS' albums like Trivia: Love, Intro: Persona, etc. Additionally, he also released other independent tracks like Bicycle, 4 O' CLOCK, etc.

However, it wasn't until 2022 that the idol established his official solo career. He made his debut with the release of his first solo studio album, Indigo in December 2022. After almost two years, the idol released his second solo studio album in May 2024 called Right Place, Wrong Person. Both albums were well-recieved and highly commended by netizens and industry professionals.

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On the other hand, the idol is also currently serving his mandatory military enlistment. Namjoon kickstarted his enlistment in Decembe 2023, and he is a Corporal in the Special Task Force of the Capital Defence Command. Following the completion of his service period, the idol is expected to be discharged in June 2025.