In the morning of the 20th September, President Moon Jae-in, who is visiting the United States to attend the ’76th UN General Assembly’, held the ‘SDG Moment’ after the opening ceremony of the High-Level Meeting of the Possible Development Goals.
The interview was moderated by Melissa Fleming, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Office for Global Communications, and held at the UN Headquarters delegation lounge.
In a written briefing, Blue House spokesperson Park Kyung-mi said, “This interview is about communicating with the world about the importance of solidarity and cooperation between the international community and especially the interest and participation of future generations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a common goal of mankind. It was done with the intention of empathizing.”
The interview was conducted in such a way that the moderator asked three questions sequentially to President Moon Jae-in and the special envoy BTS respectively, and President Moon and BTS answered.
The first question about President Moon was the background and expectations of appointing BTS as the presidential special envoy, and why he attended the SDG Moment with BTS. President Moon said, “Sustainable development is very important to future generations, and the future belongs to them. Future generations should participate in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and actively voice their voices,” he emphasized.
Yet “BTS is passed on to younger generations who suffer from Corona, messages of sympathy and hope to return the love as the good influence” and ” BTS is the voice of future generations, and can lead to more active participation I think there will be. That is the reason why I appointed them as a special envoy and participated in the event together.”
In response, President Moon said, “Sustainable development means balanced development that goes beyond simple economic development, encompassing social stability and integration, and environmental sustainability has emerged from absolute poverty in half a century and achieved democracy along with economic growth to develop into an advanced country, but there are still many tasks to be done.”
He continued, “The elderly poverty rate is high, polarization is severe, women’s social activities are limited, and the glass ceiling is high. Moreover, inequality has increased due to the corona epidemic,” he said. “So sustainable development is very important. ‘No one is left behind ‘, the core principle of sustainable development, shares the same philosophy as the Korean government’s policy toward a ‘people-centered, innovative and inclusive nation’.”
The third question was about Korea’s efforts and international contribution to achieving the SDGs in the context of a pandemic.
President Moon said, “Korea was a model country for quarantine, but in the process, the lives of the vulnerable, small business owners, and the self-employed have become more difficult. There are also problems of care gaps and education gaps. We are working hard to recover together from the crisis by strengthening support for the underprivileged, small business owners, and self-employed people with expanded finance, and providing disaster aid to almost the majority of the people.”
He continued, “Korea is in solidarity and cooperation with the international community. It shared quarantine supplies with 125 countries, shared quarantine experiences and technologies, and promised to donate $200 million to COVAX.” is being produced and supplied to the world, and we will continue to strive to become a global vaccine hub in the future so that more vaccines can be distributed fairly.”
He continued, “In terms of climate response, we shut down domestic coal power plants early and stopped all public financial support for new overseas power generation,” he said. We are helping developing countries better adapt to climate change.”
After the Q&A with President Moon, the first question about BTS followed. First, when asked why the SDGs are important to BTS and the world, RM said, “The world is facing various difficulties right now. He said, “We are the present generation and the future generation with many days to come. So, we want to play a role of connecting the future generation with the present generation.”
He continued, “I believe that the Sustainable Development Goals are a common goal for balancing the present and future generations and for all to enjoy equal benefits.” I am expressing my intentions on social media and making comments,” he said.
The second question about BTS was their impressions of visiting the United Nations. Jimin replied, “I feel a great sense of responsibility. I heard a lot of answers from future generations while preparing for the speech, and it was a precious opportunity.”
The third question was about the message he wanted to convey to BTS fans and what he wanted fans to do in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals.
Regarding this, J-Hope said, “I heard various answers while preparing, but most of them answered that they live positively without losing their dreams and passion,” he replied.
The key message BTS stated during their presentation was this: today’s youths deserve to be recognized as a “welcome generation”, not a “lost generation”.
Following the speech, BTS drew the attention of people around the world by giving a performance. The members sang ‘ Permission to Dance ‘, which was released on July 9th, starting from the UN General Assembly meeting hall, then walking through the lobby of the General Assembly, the entrance to the office building, and the grass plaza in turn.
BTS in black suits performed brightly and gleefully from start to finish. In particular, after the seven members moved the stage to the outdoors through seven different entrances to the UN headquarters, the free-spirited and lively charm of ‘Permission to Dance’ stood out even more.
In the second half of the song, which unfolded in the grassy square, many dancers participated and boasted a splendid sight. BTS reached the culmination of the 76th UN General Assembly with choreography using international sign language, meaning ‘fun’, ‘dance’ and ‘peace’ with the dancers .
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[Rhea, K-pop Updates]
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