“While many of you may know the BTS as Grammy-nominated international icons, they also play an important role as youth ambassadors promoting a message of respect and positivity,” said White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre.
Each member of the boys’ group spoke on the podium – most in Korean – after Jean-Pierre’s performance. RM, the group’s leader and the only member of the group who is fluent in English, began by thanking Jean-Pierre for her “kind words” and introduced the group.
“Hello, we are BTS and it is a great honor for me to be invited to the White House today to discuss the important issues of hate crimes against Asia, Asian inclusion and diversity,” he said.
The rest of the group, speaking through an interpreter, said they “joined the White House to stand with the AAPI community and celebrate.”
“We have been devastated by the recent influx of hate crimes, including Asian-American hate crimes. To put an end to this and support the cause, we would like to use this opportunity to express ourselves again, “said the translator. “We are here today thanks to our army – our fans around the world – who have different nationalities and cultures and use different languages.”
The group is still “surprised that music created by South Korean artists is reaching so many people around the world, transcending languages and cultural barriers,” members said. “We believe that music is always an amazing and wonderful unifier of all things.”
The group will also shoot “digital content” for White House social media channels, according to a White House official.
Their meeting with Biden in the Oval Office will be closed to reporters.
The group’s visit comes days after Biden returned from his first trip to Asia as president, which included a three-day stop in Seoul and meetings with South Korean President-elect Yun Suk Yel.
The band has achieved international success with songs such as “Butter” and “Dynamite”, and their fans, who call themselves “Army”, are spreading around the world.
Last year, amid a series of anti-Asian hate crimes in the United States, including shootings at three spas in the Atlanta region, BTS reported on its own experience of discrimination.
“We remember moments when we faced discrimination as Asians. We endured swearing for no reason and were ridiculed for the way we looked. We were even asked why Asians speak English, “the group said in a statement, retouched more than 1 million times.
They continued, “We cannot put into words the pain of being the object of hatred and violence for that reason.”
The rise in anti-Asian crime and hostility to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) comes amid the Covid-19 pandemic. More than 10,000 hate incidents against AAPI individuals were reported to Stop AAPI Hate between March 19, 2020 and December 31, 2021.
Biden, the White House said in a press release announcing the meeting, “previously spoke of his commitment to fighting the tide of hate crimes against Asia.” He signed a bipartisan bill aimed at allowing the rise of hate crimes against Asian countries into law in May 2021. He will create a new position in the Ministry of Justice to speed up the review of potential hate crimes related to Covid-19, and incidents reported at the federal, state, or local levels.
Biden and the BTS, the White House added, “will also discuss the importance of diversity and inclusion and the BTS platform as youth ambassadors who spread a message of hope and positivity around the world.”
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