Popular K-Pop band BTS took part in the United Nations General Assembly in New York this year with a smashing performance of their song Permission to Dance and a message of hope about the future. The band spoke about how the youth felt during these trying times, how one can look forward to the future with more than just despair, and how climate change can be challenging to resolve.
The BTS were appointed as special presidential envoys for the Republic of Korea, and had joined their President Moon Jae-in at the UN General Assembly hall.
Following a speech by their President, the boy band started off by saying in Korean, “We’re here today to share the stories of our future generation. Before we came here, we asked the young people in their teens and 20s around the world about their past two years and about the world they find themselves in today.”
“We can’t stand still when we’re in the ideal time of our lives to take on new challenges. It wasn’t as if we could blame anyone, and you must’ve felt the frustration. But the world changed, like we were transported in a flash to a parallel world,” they explained.
“I was saddened to hear that entrance and graduation ceremonies were cancelled. These are moments in life you want to celebrate, and missing out on them must have been upsetting,” they further said.
The boy band went on to share a sobering, powerful message about mourning for the Earth and feeling dread at the thought of our current situation. They spoke about how tricky arriving at a solution for climate change is, and pointed out how several youngsters were now focused on helping the Earth, highlighting that they were the key to the solution.
They concluded by spreading a message of hope and saying, “The future is unexplored territory. We don’t just consider the future grim darkness.”
Fellow K-pop superstars Blackpink have also been named as Sustainable Development Goals Advocates, joining an illustrious roster of advocates that include actor Forest Whitaker, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, human rights advocate Malala Yousafzai, director/screenwriter Richard Curtis (Bridget Jones' Diary), youth activist Valentina Muoz, and teen climate activist Greta Thunberg.
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are a “blueprint for fighting poverty and hunger, confronting the climate crisis, achieving gender equality and much more,” according to a statement about the SDG Moment 2021 movement.
Last week, BTS tweeted about their fight for one of the Moment’s goals, writing, “If we believe there’s hope, we will find the way. We stand against racial discrimination and hate speech. Go to https://bit.ly/Keeping-The-Promise to join us. Choose your promise to help achieve the #GlobalGoals. Let's do this together.”