“I wanted to shed that for a little bit, but the world wouldn’t let me be.”
Jimin, 26, said the members are “slowly trying to figure things out now”.
“I think that’s why we’re going through a rough patch right now, we’re trying to find our identity and that’s an exhausting and long process.”
'Overwhelming'
By the end of the dinner, several of the members of the group behind “Dynamite” and “Butter” had grown tearful as they voiced gratitude for their supporters, a fandom known online as the “ARMY”.
J-Hope, 28, said the group “should spend some time apart to learn how to be one again”.
“I hope you don’t see this is a negative thing,” the artist implored fans. “And see that it’s a healthy plan.”
“It’s not that we’re disbanding – we’re just living apart for a while,” said Suga.
Jungkook, 24, said, “We promise we will return someday even more mature than we are now”, and asked for the “blessing” of fans.
ARMY’s online reaction was tearful but supportive, with tens of thousands of comments quickly posted under the YouTube video.