Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Locsin Jr. expressed his appreciation to Korean group BTS on Twitter for their speech and performance at the United Nations General Assembly.
Locsin expressed this in a quote-retweet of a post by Twitter user Sari Setiogi Griberg of the World Health Organization.
Griberg in her tweet quoted Kim Seokjin or Jin, one of the members, in their speech, which read: “Instead of the [#COVID19] ‘Lost Generation’, a more appropriate name would be the ‘Welcome Generation’ – because instead of fearing things, this generation says welcome and keep forging ahead!”
Locsin quote-retweeted this on September 21 and wrote: “Injecting new life in the United Nations. The Republic of Korea has conquered the globe.
Injecting new life in the United Nations. The Republic of Korea has conquered the globe. https://t.co/oPUIUmdnXc
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) September 20, 2021
Jin, along with the rest of the members RM, Suga, Jimin, Jungkook, J-Hope and V are South Korean President Moon Jae-In’s Special Presidential Envoys for Future Generations and Culture at the United Nations.
They were appointed as special envoys and given diplomatic passports in a special ceremony in their home country last September 14.
During the 76th UNGA, BTS gave a speech to global leaders that tackled the challenges of the youth, poverty, inequality and the still ongoing pandemic.
They also performed one of their hit singles “Permission to Dance,” their third full-English song, ahead of the start of the assembly.
READ: Permission to Dance? BTS sing their way through United Nations
Locsin also seemed to tune online to the septet’s special appearance at the UN, along with more than a million of their fans.
BTS’ official fan club name is ARMY, short for “Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth.”
While Locsin retweeted posts from official accounts of BTS and the UN, he also shared posts from big ARMY accounts with photos of BTS’ arrival at the UN headquarters in New York City.
The country’s top diplomat even retweeted a fan account that shared her thoughts about BTS’s delivery of speech in Korean.
The tweet read: “I love the fact that @BTS_twt delivered their speech in their native language as special envoys/ proud Koreans who are here to represent their country. But when they performed, they chose PTD which is sung in English to connect empower & unite youths all over the world (clapping emoji).”
The hashtag #BTSatUNGA and other related hashtags dominated conversations on Twitter Monday as ARMYs posted photos, their favorite lines and their sentiments about the event.
Some also shared live translations of BTS’ speech for others who might not be able to watch the virtual livestream.
translation of @bts_twt‘s 210920 address to the @UN on the stories of the #YouthToday
(as special presidential envoys for future generations & culture) pic.twitter.com/ZZCiADzBx6— 「 claire ⁷ 」 (@btstranslation7) September 20, 2021
“𝘽𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚, 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙.” – 𝘽𝙏𝙎 , 𝙐𝙉𝙄𝘾𝙀𝙁 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙚𝙘𝙝 2021
Another proud , happy day….🥺💜They again give us a speech full of hopes☺️#BTS_twt#BTSatUNGA pic.twitter.com/HGaRsEsrkJ
— Minnukook💜 (@minnukook) September 20, 2021
Twitter is shaking right now #BTS_twt #BTSatUNGA #JungKook #KimTaehyung #GotARMYRightBehindYou #BTSPavedTheWay #ARMYvaccinatedtoo #ourprideBTS #Got_ARMY_Behind_Us #btsdiamond pic.twitter.com/lLudUD2m66
— Amina Ansari G2D (@AcesG2d) September 21, 2021
Among the notable parts were J-Hope’s confirmation that all of them have received their COVID-19 shots.
“Ahead of our speech here at the United Nations, many appeared to inquire whether we had been vaccinated. I’d like to take this time to share with you that all seven members of our group have been fully vaccinated,” he said.
It was not the first time the Grammy nominees spoke in front of UN leaders.
Their first appearance and speech at the UNGA was in 2018 in partnership with UNICEF. They then made another address virtually in 2020.
