Watch: BTS Gives Emotional Speech at United Nations ‘Youth 2030’ Event

Today, the United Nations Headquarter in New York City has gathered dozens of distinguished guests to launch an initiative geared towards young people, and one highly publicized group just made an appearance at the event. In honor of the organization’s Generation Unlimited launch, BTS was invited to speak at the event given their close work with Unicef, and social media has already made their speech viral.

As you can see below, BTS took to the floor at the United Nations not long ago to address the youth on behalf of the Generation Unlimited program. The seven-member band came onto the stage together where leader Kim Nam-joon (also known as RM) delivered the emotional speech.

The presentation began with RM introducing BTS to the general assembly gathered at the initiative kick-off. The leader, who was dressed in a sharp black suit, gave thanks to the band’s international fanbase for putting them in the position to speak at the United Nations and for their own charitable contributions.

Continuing, RM took a serious tone as he reflected on his own youth in Ilsan, South Korea.

“I would look up at the night sky and wonder. I would use to dream the dreams of a boy. I used to imagine I was a superhero who could save the world,” the artist explained. “In the intro to one of our old songs, there’s a line that says my heart stopped when I was maybe 9 or 10. Looking back, that is when I began to worry about what other people thought of me.”

“I stopped looking up at the night sky… the stars. I stopped daydreaming. Instead, I tried to jam myself into others’ molds, Soon, I began to shut out my own voice and listen to those of others. No one called out my name and neither did I. My heart stopped and my eyes closed shut. Like this, I — we — lost our names.”

The raw speech comes in at over 5 minutes, and RM left the room with a final question before exiting the stage with his bandmates at his side.

“I’d like to ask all of you what is your name. What excites you and makes your heart beat. Tell me your story. I want to hear your story and conviction. No matter who you are or where you’re from. Your skin color or gender identity. Find your voice by speaking yourself.”

If you would like to learn more about the United Nations’ Generation Unlimited project and its Youth 2030 strategy, you can discover its goals through the organization’s website here.

What do you make of this powerful address? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!