SEVENTEEN’s Hoshi Undergoes Successful ACL Surgery While Serving in the Military
SEVENTEEN’s Hoshi has successfully undergone surgery to repair a completely torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), his agency PLEDIS Entertainment confirmed on September 19.
The news caps off a week of concern among CARATs after Hoshi himself first revealed the injury directly to fans just days earlier.
The performance team leader, currently fulfilling his mandatory military service, sustained the injury while rehearsing with the Army’s Ground Forces performance team.
He is now expected to step back from physically demanding activity for an extended period while he focuses on treatment and recovery.
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What PLEDIS Entertainment Confirmed
On September 19 (KST), PLEDIS Entertainment released an official statement updating fans on Hoshi’s health and the schedule changes that follow. According to the agency, Hoshi underwent surgery on September 18 to address the torn ACL in his right knee, and the procedure was successful.
Per his doctors’ recommendations, he will refrain from physically demanding activities for the time being and dedicate himself to a structured course of treatment and rehabilitation.
The agency also reiterated the basic timeline of the injury itself: Hoshi sustained the injury while rehearsing with the Ground Forces performance team, visited a hospital for an examination, and was subsequently diagnosed with a full ACL tear following a thorough medical evaluation.
Because surgery was deemed medically necessary, the operation was scheduled and carried out over the following days.
Hoshi is currently serving his mandatory enlistment as a member of the Army Taekwondo Demonstration Team, a role that has kept him highly visible even during his time away from SEVENTEEN’s regular group activities.
He enlisted on September 16, 2025, and is scheduled to be discharged on March 15, 2027, meaning he will now be managing a significant recovery process for a meaningful stretch of his remaining service period.
What Exactly Is an ACL Tear?
The anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, is one of the key stabilizing ligaments inside the knee. It connects the thigh bone (femur) to the shin bone (tibia) and is largely responsible for keeping the knee joint stable during twisting, pivoting, and sudden changes of direction. Unlike the surrounding muscles, the ACL doesn’t stretch much before it fails, which is why sudden, forceful movements — rather than gradual wear — are usually what cause it to give way.
Most ACL injuries don’t come from direct contact at all.
They typically happen when the foot is planted and the body suddenly pivots, when someone lands awkwardly from a jump with the knee rotating inward, when a person decelerates rapidly after sprinting, or when the knee is forced into hyperextension.
This is precisely why ACL tears are so common among athletes and performers whose activities involve a lot of jumping, pivoting footwork, and rapid direction changes — think basketball, soccer, skiing, gymnastics, and high-intensity dance or martial arts choreography.
A tear can be partial, where some of the ligament’s fibers are damaged but the structure is still mostly intact, or complete, where the ligament is fully ruptured.
Hoshi’s was reported as a complete tear, which is generally why doctors recommend surgical reconstruction — using a graft to rebuild the ligament — rather than rehabilitation alone.
Recovery from ACL reconstruction surgery typically takes anywhere from six months to a full year before a patient can safely return to high-intensity physical activity, which lines up with PLEDIS’s emphasis on an extended period of treatment and rehab rather than a quick turnaround.
How the Injury Was First Discovered and Reported
Hoshi didn’t learn about this news from his agency — he broke it to fans himself. On September 12 (KST), he posted directly on Weverse, telling CARATs he was sharing the update cautiously because it might come as a surprise.
He explained that he had injured his knee while rehearsing with the Ground Forces performance team, underwent a medical examination afterward, and was found to have a complete tear of his ACL.
Notably, neither Hoshi’s own message nor any of the reporting that followed has specified exactly what happened in the moment of injury — no particular jump, kick, or fall has been named as the cause.
What’s been consistently confirmed across his statement and the agency’s later update is only the broader circumstance: the injury occurred during a rehearsal with the performance team, and a subsequent hospital examination confirmed the full tear.
Given that level of detail, it’s worth being upfront that the precise mechanism of the injury simply hasn’t been made public, and any specific account of “how” it happened beyond that would be speculation rather than confirmed fact.
In his Weverse post, Hoshi said that as a result of the diagnosis, he would need to focus on his recovery following surgery, meaning he’d be unable to take part in the already-scheduled Taekwondo Demonstration Team events or the Ground Forces Festival.
He apologized to fans for the disruption, noting that these were performances he had personally looked forward to and had put in real effort preparing for.
He also asked CARATs to continue supporting the Taekwondo Demonstration Team and the Ground Forces performance team in his absence — a team that includes fellow SEVENTEEN member Woozi, who is serving alongside him.
Hoshi’s Role With the Army Taekwondo Demonstration Team
The injury is especially notable given how visible Hoshi’s military role had become. He’s part of a taekwondo demonstration unit under the Army’s Military Music Hall Battalion, which was formally established on January 9, 2026.
Rather than competitive sparring, the unit performs choreographed stage routines that blend traditional taekwondo movement with performance elements — a natural fit for Hoshi, who has long served as SEVENTEEN’s performance team leader.
He made his first public appearance with the unit on March 1, 2026, taking center stage at a cultural event marking the 107th anniversary of Korea’s Independence Movement Day, held at Independence Hall in Cheonan.
Roughly 5,000 citizens gathered to watch the demonstration, which showcased Hoshi delivering sharp, disciplined movement in what was described as a taekwondo dance performance. He later appeared with the team again in May 2026, when the unit delivered the closing performance at the National Museum of Korea Cultural Festival.
These weren’t small, internal training exercises — Korean Army taekwondo demonstration teams regularly perform in front of the public at cultural and diplomatic events, including board-breaking displays and full choreographed routines at events like the long-running ROK-U.S. Friendship Armed Forces Combat Taekwondo Exhibition.
That Hoshi’s injury occurred during rehearsal for this kind of high-intensity, performance-style taekwondo — rather than in casual training — underscores just how physically demanding his military assignment has continued to be, even while enlisted.
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For now, the most important detail is also the simplest one: the surgery was successful, and Hoshi is safely into the recovery phase.
PLEDIS Entertainment noted that his rehabilitation will take place through the military’s own medical system, and that his recovery is being treated as the priority over any remaining performance obligations during his service.
It’s still unclear exactly how this injury and recovery timeline will affect Hoshi’s remaining months of service, or whether it could have any bearing on his discharge date of March 15, 2027.
Neither his agency nor military officials have commented on that specifically, and speculation at this point would get ahead of what’s actually been confirmed.
What is clear is that Hoshi will not be returning to demanding physical activity — whether military performances or, eventually, SEVENTEEN promotions — until doctors clear him to do so.
In the meantime, CARATs around the world have flooded social media with messages of support, many using the phrase “Horanghae” — Hoshi’s signature fan greeting — to wish him a smooth and complete recovery.
With Woozi still actively serving alongside the Ground Forces performance team, fans have also redirected some of their attention to cheering on the unit’s remaining scheduled events in Hoshi’s absence, just as he asked them to.
SEVENTEEN has navigated a staggered series of enlistments over the past two years, with members entering and completing service at different points. Hoshi’s injury adds a new variable to that broader timeline, though for now, all eyes are simply on making sure his knee heals properly before anything else is decided.
KpopFam’s Message to Hoshi
The team at KpopFam wants to add our own well wishes to the outpouring of support from CARATs everywhere.
Recovering from a complete ACL tear is no small thing, physically or mentally, especially for a performer whose artistry is so tied to movement.
We’re glad to hear the surgery went smoothly, and we hope Hoshi’s rehabilitation goes just as well — take all the time you need, Hoshi. Horanghae, and heal up quickly.