BTS singer Jin takes part in the torch relay at the Paris Olympic Games

South Korean singer Jin of K-pop boy band BTS said he was honored to take part in the Olympic torch relay on July 14.

The 31-year-old was one of the torchbearers in the relay ahead of the Paris Summer Olympics, which will take place from July 26 to August 11. The torch arrived in Paris on July 14, France’s national holiday, Bastille Day, and will pass by some of the city’s most famous landmarks.

Jin, who led the torch relay section at the Louvre Museum, was greeted with cheers by waiting fans as he left the museum’s torch relay center at around 8 p.m., Yonhap news agency reported.

The singer, whose real name is Kim Seok-jin, waved to his fans, known as Army, as they chanted his name.

He was escorted by police as he walked to a nearby street and was handed the torch. He ran about 200 meters before returning to the torch relay center at the museum, according to Yonhap.

“I am very honored to participate in today’s torch relay,” Jin said in a statement issued by Hybe, the parent company of his agency BigHit Music, Yonhap reported. “I sincerely thank Army and all the fans who made it possible for me to carry the torch.”

Jin, the oldest member of BTS and the first of the seven-member group to enlist, completed his mandatory military service on June 12. Later in 2024, he is scheduled to release his first solo album and appear in a new South Korean variety show titled “The Half-Star Hotel In Lost Island.”