(NewsNation) — Friends and loved ones have been rallying around Kenny DeLand Jr., the missing 22 year-old senior at Saint John Fisher University in Rochester, New York, who had been studying abroad at a university in southeastern France.

His father, Kenneth DeLand Sr. and his step mother mother, Jennifer DeLand, joined NewsNation’s “Rush Hour” on Monday to discuss any further details and information they have, which, according Deland Sr., has been hard due to bureaucratic laws.

“The Privacy Act — I understand its intent — but in this particular scenario, when studying abroad goes sideways, and your kid goes off the grid for whatever reason that might be it really impedes any progress,” DeLand Sr. said.

DeLand Sr. went on to explain how, although people have been reaching out to give tips, he has not been able to cross reference them with foreign officials to get information in return.

“I spoke with the embassy this morning. There’s no reciprocation, she can’t give me information. If I have information, I’ve been forwarding it to the embassy and to the FBI. But it’s … yeah,” DeLand said.

In a statement to NBC News, the public prosecutor of Grenoble said he opened the investigation into DeLand’s “disturbing disappearance” on Nov. 29 following a report from students that he hadn’t gotten along with classmates well.

“The young man reportedly told several people that he had arrived in France insufficiently prepared and that he had difficulty making friends,” Eric Vaillant, the public prosecutor of Grenoble said, adding that DeLand appeared to “have left Grenoble voluntarily.”

His father, however, maintains that DeLand told them he was going exploring and did not mention having any difficulties of the sort.

“On the break, he traveled to Italy and he traveled by himself. He stayed in hostels and traveled up the coast down the coast and took a lot of pictures. He was having a great time. And it’s just doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t add up to why he would be off the grid,” DeLand said.

DeLand’s hometown held a vigil praying for his safe return and his family has set up a website in hopes of getting tips to find him.

YEONCHEON, South Korea — Jin, the oldest member of K-pop supergroup BTS, was set to enter a frontline South Korean boot camp Tuesday to start his 18 months of mandatory military service, as fans gathered near the base to say goodbye to their star.

Six other younger BTS members are to join the military in coming years one after another, meaning that South Korea’s most successful music band must take a hiatus, likely for a few years. Their enlistments have prompted a fierce domestic debate over whether it’s time to revise the country’s conscription system to expand exemptions to include prominent entertainers like BTS, or not to provide such benefits to anyone.

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With lawmakers squabbling at Parliament and surveys showing sharply split public opinions over offering exemptions to BTS members, their management agency said in October that all BTS members would perform their compulsory military duties. Big Hit Music said that both the company and the members of BTS “are looking forward to reconvening as a group again around 2025 following their service commitment.”

Jin, who turned 30 earlier this month, is to enter the boot camp at Yeoncheon, a town near the tense border with North Korea, for five weeks of basic military training together with other new conscript soldiers. After that training, he would be given a specific role and sent to a certain army unit, a process that all other conscripts go through.

“It’s time for a curtain call,” Jin wrote Tuesday morning on the online fan platform Weverse. He posted a photo of himself Sunday with a military buzzcut and a message saying, “Ha ha ha. It’s cuter than I had expected.”

Mandy Lee from Hong Kong was among the first group of people who gathered near the base to see Jin off. “I want to wait (for) Jin and see him go into the military and wish him all the best,” Lee said.

About 20-30 fans showed up near the camp, a small number given Jin’s huge popularity. Jin and Bit Hit Music have separately asked fans not to visit the site to prevent any issue caused by a crowding and didn’t plan any special events Tuesday involving Jin near the base.

Read More: These Portraits Show That the BTS ARMY Is Not a Monolith

Police officers still closed off some streets to maintain order and prevent any accidents, and officials deployed an ambulance at the site. Strict safety steps were expected as South Korea is still reeling from the devastating Halloween crush in October in Seoul that killed 158 people.

By law, all able-bodied South Korean men must serve in the military for 18-21 months. But the law gives special exemptions to athletes, classical and traditional musicians, and ballet and other dancers if they have won top prizes in certain competitions and enhance national prestige. K-pop stars and other entertainers aren’t given such benefits even if they gain worldwide fame and win big international awards.

“Though BTS members have opted to go to the military, there are still some sort of regrets,” said Jung Duk-hyun, a pop culture commentator. “Those in the pop culture sector experience little bit of disadvantages and unfairness, compared with those in the pure art sector or athletes. This will likely continue to be an issue of controversy so I wonder if it must be discussed continuously.”

Exemptions or dodging of duties are a highly sensitive issue in South Korea, where the draft forces young men to suspend their studies or professional careers. Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and Lee Ki Sik, head of South Korea’s enlistment office, previously said it would be “desirable” for BTS members to fulfill their military duties to ensure fairness in the country’s military service.

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Chun In-bum, a retired lieutenant general who commanded South Korea’s special forces, said the government must move to repeal any exemptions as the military’s shrinking recruitment pool is “a very serious” problem amid the country’s declining fertility rate. He called a debate over BTS’s military service “unnecessary” as it wasn’t raised by BTS members, who have shown willingness in carrying out their duties.

BTS was created in 2013 and has a legion of global supporters who call themselves the “Army.” Its other members are RM, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook, who is the youngest at 25. The group expanded its popularity in the West with its 2020 megahit “Dynamite,” the band’s first all-English song that made BTS the first K-pop act to top Billboard’s Hot 100. The band has performed in sold-out arenas around the world and was even invited to speak at United Nations meetings.

Hybe Corp., the parent company of Big Hit, said in October that each member of the band for the time being would focus on individual activities scheduled around their military service plans. In October, Jin released “The Astronaut,” a single co-written by Coldplay.

Jung, the commentator, said sold projects could give BTS members much-needed time to develop themselves after working together as a group for many years. But Cha Woo-jin, a K-pop commentator, said it’s unclear if BTS would enjoy the same popularity as a group when they get together again after finishing their military duties in a few years.

Read More: Inside the BTS ARMY, the Devoted Fandom With an Unrivaled Level of Organization

In August, Lee, the defense minister, said BTS members who are serving would likely be allowed to continue practicing and to join other non-serving BTS members in overseas group tours.

Cha said K-pop’s global influence wouldn’t be hurt much because of BTS members’ enlistments as they “appear to represent K-pop but aren’t everything of K-pop.” Chung agreed, saying that other K-pop groups like BLACKPINK, Stray Kids and aespa could rise further.

— Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea.

Elon Musk’s Twitter has dissolved its Trust and Safety Council, the advisory group of around 100 independent civil, human rights and other organizations that the company formed in 2016 to address hate speech, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm and other problems on the platform.

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The council had been scheduled to meet with Twitter representatives Monday night. But Twitter informed the group via email that it was disbanding it shortly before the meeting was to take place, according to multiple members.

The council members, who provided images of the email from Twitter to The Associated Press, spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fears of retaliation. The email said Twitter was “reevaluating how best to bring external insights” and the council is “not the best structure to do this.”

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“Our work to make Twitter a safe, informative place will be moving faster and more aggressively than ever before and we will continue to welcome your ideas going forward about how to achieve this goal,” said the email, which was signed “Twitter.”

The volunteer group provided expertise and guidance on how Twitter could better combat hate, harassment and other harms but didn’t have any decision-making authority and didn’t review specific content disputes. Shortly after buying Twitter for $44 billion in late October, Musk said he would form a new “content moderation council” to help make major decisions but later changed his mind.

Read More: Elon Musk Is the Lord of Twitter. We Are the Peasants

“Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council was a group of volunteers who over many years gave up their time when consulted by Twitter staff to offer advice on a wide range of online harms and safety issues,” tweeted council member Alex Holmes. “At no point was it a governing body or decision making.”

Twitter, which is based in San Francisco, had confirmed the meeting with the council Thursday in an email in which it promised an “open conversation and Q&A” with Twitter staff, including the new head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin.

That came on the same day that three council members announced they were resigning in a public statement posted on Twitter that said that “contrary to claims by Elon Musk, the safety and wellbeing of Twitter’s users are on the decline.”

Those former council members soon became the target of online attacks after Musk amplified criticism of them and Twitter’s past leadership for allegedly not doing enough to stop child sexual exploitation on the platform.

“It is a crime that they refused to take action on child exploitation for years!” Musk tweeted.

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A growing number of attacks on the council led to concerns from some remaining members who sent an email to Twitter earlier on Monday demanding the company stop misrepresenting the council’s role.

Those false accusations by Twitter leaders were “endangering current and former Council members,” the email said.

The Trust and Safety Council, in fact, had as one of its advisory groups one that focused on child exploitation. This included the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the Rati Foundation and YAKIN, or Youth Adult Survivors & Kin in Need.