K-pop band BTS are celebrating their five-year anniversary this week and fans have been fundraising for billboards to mark the occasion.
BTS officially debuted on 12 June 2013. The UK fandom for the group is so passionate that fans raised the money for a billboard in London.
Here are our official pics from the UK 5th anniversary billboard for @BTS_twt. Thank you to everyone who has donated to make this happen and thank you @BangtanUK for working with us! We look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday for the meetup 💜 #UKLovesBTS #BTSinLondon https://t.co/GgT7L4XWwQ
Sheela Karunanidi, a 33-year-old finance operations manager from Essex, is part of the team who fundraised for the billboard. She told BuzzFeed News this isn't the first time they created a billboard in the UK.
Karunanidi said: "Last year we put one up in Tower Bridge essentially to get noticed by [BTS's record label] Big Hit and to show that there is a large following of BTS fans in the UK.
"This year we did it as a thank you for giving us two concert dates and also [to] show them how much we love them."
She said that the billboard was well received by fans in the UK as they don't really see BTS in any sort of British media.
The billboard is on Vauxhall station in South London, right above a Nando's.
If you don’t put your UK ARMY billboard next to a cheeky Nando’s what even is the point #UKLovesBTS
Karunanidi said: "The general travelling public have been very curious and have been asking our Twitter [account] for music video recommendations."
In South Korea it's quite common for fans to create billboards to mark their idols' birthdays and anniversaries.
These billboards went up in Seoul's Hongdae subway station to commemorate the BTS anniversary this week.
Savannah Manios, a 24-year-old from London who works for Lush, was also part of the team. She told BuzzFeed News the billboard was to show their love and appreciation for BTS on their anniversary.
Just seen the billboard!! It's incredible! Thank you so much UK ARMY for making this happen!!💜💜 - 🐢
Manios said, "We gathered donations from other fans across the UK to make this possible."
Fans were proud of it.
I saw @BTS_twt today 😊 I literally stand there for an hour just to look at their gorgeous faces. Thanks for the billboard 😉 #BTSinLondon #2018BTSFESTA https://t.co/pBVSY9fzYy
