This photo provided by Pledis Entertainment shows K-pop group Seventeen posing with UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay (C) during the 13th UNESCO Youth Forum at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on Nov. 14, 2023. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — K-pop supergroup Seventeen has addressed a UNESCO forum and delivered a message of solidarity and hope to young people around the world.
The 13-piece group attended a special session of the 13th UNESCO Youth Forum, a biennial event held in conjunction with the UNESCO General Assembly in Paris on Tuesday (Paris time).
Seventeen became the first K-pop act to be invited to address an entire session at a significant UNESCO meeting.
All members — excluding S.Coups, who is currently on a break due to a knee injury — took the podium in the packed main hall of the UNESCO headquarters, eliciting resounding cheers from the audience.
The group began the relay speech by introducing how the 13 members, who had grown up in various environments, came together to form Seventeen.
When it made its debut, people “liked to say that 13 members was too many for a boy band,” Woozi, an in-house producer of the team, said. “Many also believed our average age, which was 17 at the time of our debut, made us too young that we wouldn’t get along and that we would have a hard time finding and building our original sound.”
The group, however, was not discouraged.
“We were too young to be discouraged,” he said.
This photo provided by Pledis Entertainment shows K-pop group Seventeen attending the 13th UNESCO Youth Forum at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on Nov. 14, 2023. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
“Each of us had our own strengths, whether it was in our vocals, performing or hip-hop. And we learned from each other and came together as one, Seventeen’s identity began to take shape. Our group’s unique approach to teaching and learning from each other and having fun while we were at it, was our own special way of growing.”
Jun, a Chinese member, said in his mother tongue, “We may not be perfect as individuals, but together, we are the best team, Seventeen.
“There are difficulties of the present and uncertainties of the future, but we believe we can overcome anything if we are all together,” he added.
Mingyu spoke about the group’s social sharing activities, which include donating 13 goats to children in Tanzania on its first debut anniversary in 2016.
He said these activities are important because they help give children in need hope for the future.
Joshua, a Korean American member, introduced the Going Together campaign, which the group launched last year with the Korean National Commission for UNESCO (KNCU) to promote the importance of education.
The campaign caught the attention of the UNESCO headquarters, which then offered to work in collaboration with Seventeen and the KNCU.
“That gave us the opportunity to expand the Going Together campaign to the whole world. Going forward, we plan to improve educational infrastructure in the least developed countries by building schools,” Joshua said in English.
“We pledge to work as ambassadors to UNESCO to further raise awareness of the critical challenges in our time,” he said.
After the speech, Seventeen performed on the stage in its first live performance in Europe.
The performance was met with enthusiastic applause and cheers from the audience, including youth representatives from 173 countries and 550 Seventeen fans chosen in a lottery. Some 20 journalists from local and overseas media also attended.
(Yonhap)
