BTS says happy new year as 'DNA' hits 1.2 billion views

The seven members of BTS pose in hanbok, or Korean traditional dress, to celebrate Lunar New Year. [BIG HIT ENTERTAINMENT]

The music video for BTS's 2017 song “DNA” reached 1.2 billion views on YouTube, a milestone for the group.

Big Hit Entertainment, the group's agency, said last Thursday that views of the official music video for “DNA," the lead single for the band’s fifth EP "Love Yourself: Her," surpassed 1.2 billion. The video reached the 1-billion-view milestone last June.

The “DNA” video was directed by visual artist Yongseok Choi, who directed about 20 official BTS music videos including “Blood, Sweat & Tears” (2016), “Fake Love” (2018) and “Idol” (2018). The video for “Boy with Luv” (2019), also directed by Choi, had 1.13 billion views as of Sunday.

“DNA” was the first song by a K-pop act to simultaneously break into the Billboard Hot 100 main chart for singles and the Billboard 200 main chart for albums and EPs.

Meanwhile, the seven members of BTS appeared in hanbok, or Korean traditional dress, in a special video uploaded Wednesday evening on the band’s official channel on YouTube to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

In the video, they make a handmade yeonhajang, a greeting card for the holiday, by hand drawing and painting bokjumeoni, a traditional pouch believed to bring fortune and used for New Year gifts.

After finishing the yeonhajang, they sent out a New Year's message to ARMY, their fan base, saying, "Bokjumeoni filled with our blood, sweat and tears will find its way into the heart of ARMY. Happy new year."

BY MOON SO-YOUNG [symoon@joongang.co.kr]