BTS Is 13. This Morning, They Took a Photo Together to Prove It.

The photos dropped Thursday morning KST - three sets, all seven members, first time since the military years ended. RM, Jin, Suga, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, dressed in business casual, on a lawn in the sun. On a couch, laughing at each other's comments between takes. Lined up on a staircase, staring down the camera. A behind-the-scenes video followed, showing what happened when nobody was performing.

That last part is the point. BTS has been releasing FESTA family photos since 2014 - every June 13th anniversary, a set of official portraits marking where the group is and what they look like together. From 2022 to 2025, the tradition functioned at a reduced capacity: some members deployed, some freshly discharged, never all seven in the same frame at the same time. Jin completed his service in June 2024. Jungkook, the last to enlist, was discharged in June 2025. The 2026 photos are the first since 2021 in which no one is absent.

This marks the group's first anniversary celebration with all seven members reunited after their military service. The framing BigHit Music has used for this year's FESTA - "13(B)TS," the idea that 13 represents a chapter beyond the completed cycle of 12 - is consistent with how the group has positioned the entire comeback arc. ARIRANG debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in March with 641,000 equivalent album units, the largest opening week by any group since One Direction in 2013. The album has now spent 10 consecutive weeks in the Billboard 200 top 10, making it the first album by a Korean artist to achieve that milestone. The tour is mid-run. The reunion, in other words, has already been validated by the commercial record.

What the family photos add is something the charts don't capture. For ARMY, the annual portrait shoot functions as a State of BTS address - a visual confirmation that the group is intact, present, and operating in the same room rather than the same organizational structure. The 2024 photos, released with Jin as the sole discharged member, communicated one kind of message. The 2025 set, with most members back, communicated another. The 2026 set, in which all seven are dressed alike and laughing at the same joke between takes, communicates something that two years of incremental returns couldn't.

Tomorrow, a performance video for "Hooligan" - the second track on ARIRANG, produced with El Guincho - drops as the FESTA's next release. June 7 brings a Normal Log. June 8, the 13 Side Film. June 10, the Run BTS! 2.0 teaser, followed by the full release on June 11. June 12, the Busan concert opens alongside the official digital release of "Come Over" and the limited-edition 613 picture disc vinyl. June 13 is the anniversary itself - the second Busan concert, broadcast live to cinemas worldwide.

BTS's first Busan concerts since 2022, on June 12 and 13, mark their first full-group Busan performance following all members' completion of military service. Both shows sold out immediately after tickets opened.

The photos from this morning are, structurally, just pictures. What they represent is a clean line between the years the group spent apart and the one they are spending together.