The K-pop idols will attend the UN General Assembly with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
BTS has utilized its celebrity to promote education, fight prejudice, and expand access to health care since they rose to prominence and won the hearts of the globe. With a presidential seal, their standing as global changemakers is now official.
The seven members of the number-one boy band met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday for an official event in which they were named “special presidential envoy for future generations and culture.”
Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook received diplomatic passports, new positions, and their first assignment in the president’s office in Seoul: taking the global stage at the UN General Assembly. The Bangtang Boys, also known as BTS, will accompany the president to the United Nations in New York, where they will represent global youth at a summit on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
“BTS has tremendously enhanced the national dignity by elevating the status of K-pop and Korean culture, and I am thankful in many ways,” President Moon remarked of the group’s recent musical achievements.
BTS just won group of the year, song of the summer, and best K-pop at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards, while their single “Butter” remained at the top of the Billboard charts for 16 weeks.
The group, which Moon has hailed as a “great diplomatic help,” will speak at the United Nations General Assembly’s 76th session next week at the SDG Moment of the Decade Action on Monday. The SDG Moment reaffirms and emphasizes critical goals such as poverty alleviation, education, environmental preservation, gender equality, and hunger.
“We’ve often wondered if we could repay all of the love we’ve gotten while also giving back, and we’re delighted that the president has given us such a fantastic chance, and [we] will work hard as special envoys,” BTS member RM stated on behalf of the group.
This isn’t the first time BTS has graced the UN’s stage — or podium. In 2018, the group’s appearance and RM’s speech, in collaboration with UNICEF, actually shattered the internet, leaving the UN system “struggling to cope.” They reappeared, virtually, in 2020 to boost world morale amid the epidemic.
