K-pop stars BTS speak at the UN, spreading their message of peace and self-love to the world’s youth
The boys from BTS were in New York to speak at the UN Youth 2030 event. Their message was one of self-acceptance and inspiration
The seven young men of the Korean pop group BTS stepped up to a single microphone on Monday, looking familiar but not immediately recognisable. They had traded in their flashier stage outfits for dark, fitted suits. And when the leader of the group opened his mouth, he spoke rather than sang.
The blockbuster K-pop boy band were in New York, this time not for one of their sold-out concerts, but to speak at the United Nations’ “Youth 2030” event to launch Generation Unlimited, a new UN initiative with Unicef “that aims to ensure that every young person is in education, learning, training or employment by 2030”.
BTS’s message for the world’s youths that day, however, was less about vocation than inspiration and self-acceptance.
Kim Nam Joon – better known as BTS lead singer “RM” – opened by talking about his childhood in Ilsan, a city near Seoul that was idyllic, to hear him describe it. “It is a really beautiful place with a lake, hills and even an annual flower festival,” he said. “I spent a very happy childhood there and I was just an ordinary boy.”
His days were filled in with a fanciful imagination, including the thought that he was a “superhero who could save the world”. When RM was nine or 10 years old, however, self-doubt began to creep into his thoughts.