World renowned K-Pop boy group BTS on 20 September joined Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres in Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Moment 2021, part of the 76th UN General Assembly. Through their speech, BTS spread a positive outlook for the future in an effort to get SDGs back on track.

Guterres in his speech noted that the response to the global pandemic has been “too slow and too unequal”, hence calling on the world to speed up to have 70% of the global population vaccinated against COVID-19. According to him, sustainable and equitable recovery for all is required for the world to stay on track to end poverty by 2030. 

He also underlined that none of the SDGs can be achieved without reaching gender equality as well as education access for all girls. Lastly, he made a note to “dismantle the power structures that allow discrimination, violence and economic hardship to keep one half of humanity down.” Guterres added that everyone needs to make sure that girls and women have a seat at every table.

Meanwhile, all members of BTS focused on how their generation felt lost during the peak of the pandemic last year, when their lives changed in a very short period of time. However, they challenged the notion that their generation is “the lost generation” and called it a stretch. 

“I hope we just don't consider the future as grim darkness. We have people concerned for the world and searching for answers,” member Jeon Jungkook said. “There are still many pages left in the story about us and I feel like we shouldn't talk like the ending has already been written."

BTS also encouraged their generation and everyone around the world to keep looking forward to the future by presenting a compilation of pictures they got from their fans. "In these pictures, you can see there are kids that are trying to learn new things...They are not lost, they are finding new courage and taking on new challenges," Kim Seokjin explained.

Therefore, "Instead of ‘the lost generation’, a more appropriate name would be the ‘welcome’ generation because instead of fearing change, this generation says "welcome" and keeps pushing ahead,” Min Yoongi, popularly known as Suga, concluded.

Jung Hoseok, known as J-Hope, mentioned the questions the group has been getting regarding their appearance in the UN General Assembly and their vaccination status. “Some of you heard the news that we were coming to the UN and a lot of you were wondering whether we were vaccinated. And yes, all seven of us, of course, we received COVID-19 vaccination,” he said.

The group wore custom-made suits by RE;CODE, a fashion brand that upcycles environmentally-friendly fabrics, at the event.