Astro member MJ bombarded by prank calls in military

Boy band Astro's MJ [ILGAN SPORTS]

Boy band Astro member MJ has been bombarded by prank calls at the military's training center since he enlisted in the mandatory service earlier this month.

The agency, Fantagio, warned that legal action will be taken if the prank calls continue.

"Recently, more and more people are trying to make prank calls to MJ's military unit, and prank calls without a specific intent are a big distraction to training," said the agency in a statement.

"A prank call made several times is subject to punishment, and a prank call to a military unit is subject to more severe punishment. Please note that legal procedures may proceed if the prank calls continue after this notice."

After receiving basic military training at the training center, MJ will be serving in the military band.

Meanwhile, Astro’s upcoming concerts in Japan, which are slated to take place on June 3 and 4 have sold out, according to Fantagio. According to the label, tickets for about 40,000 seats to Makuhari Messe International Exhibition Hall in Chiba, Japan, for both days sold out as soon as they went on sale. Fantagio said Tuesday that fans can still watch the boy band’s concert by purchasing concert tickets for the online show.

Astro debuted in February 2016 with the EP “Spring Up,” of which “Hide & Seek” was the lead track. The band consists of MJ, JinJin, Cha, Moon, Rocky and Yoon San-ha. Before its official debut, agency Fantagio promoted the members through a web drama series “To Be Continued” (2015) alongside actors Kim Sae-ron and Seo Kang-joon. As a whole, Astro is known for songs “Crazy Sexy Cool” (2017), “Blue Flame” (2019), “Knock” (2020) and “One” (2021).

It recently dropped its third full-length album "Drive to the Starry Road," but MJ was not able to be part of the promotional activities due to his mandatory military service.

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]