hankyoreh

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Irish musician and lead vocalist for U2 Bono (Paul David Hewson) greet each other at the Blue House on Dec. 9. (Kim Jung-hyo, staff photographer)

Meeting with lead singer Bono from the rock band U2 after its performance in South Korea, President Moon Jae-in said that “the role of music and other culture and art in the path of peace is great.”

Bono replied by stressing that “music is powerful” and predicting that South and North Korean musicians could play a major role in the Korean Peninsula peace process.

Meeting with Bono at the Blue House on Dec. 9, Moon said that he “welcome[s] U2’s first performance in South Korea.”

“In addition to the outstanding performance yesterday, I also very much agreed with and want to thank you for the message you shared during the performance about wishing for the peace and reunification of South and North Korea, and in particular your message for women -- who cannot be seen as receiving fully equal treatment yet -- about how no one is equal until everyone is equal,” he also said.

The day before, U2 had given its first South Korea performance in its 43-year history as a band at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul’s Guro District. Lead singer Bono has also worked as a social activist fighting for an end to human poverty and disease and was a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. The meeting that day began at 10:30 am and lasted for 40 minutes.

“I heard that you performed ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ as your opener and ‘One’ as your closing song. I feel that they are songs with messages that I can really support as a Korean,” Moon said of the performance the day before.

“In ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday,’ you’re singing about the situation in Ireland, but it was also on a Sunday that the Korean War broke out,” he explained. “After Germany’s reunification, the desire for inter-Korean peace and reunification intensified among the South Korean public,” he explained.

Moon went on to say, “U2 has been one of the world’s top rock banks for the last 70 years, but I also want to pay my respects to how you’ve not only engaged in outstanding music activities, but also how you’ve used your music as a medium for taking part and producing many results in social campaigns for peace, human rights, and the eradication of hunger and disease.”

In response, Bono expressed thanks to Moon for the “many efforts and leadership you have shown in the peace process.”

“I’m also aware that you are approaching this with firm resolution to ensure that peace becomes a reality and not just a fantasy, which I respect,” he said.

Bono also expressed “respect for how you have continued to demonstrate leadership in carrying forward the South Korean economy and the ‘Miracle on the Han River.’”

“I am very aware of how you are continuing to work hard to ensure that the prosperity that South Korea is achieving takes place in a more inclusive and transparent way,” he said.

Bono further expressed his thanks “for the interest and efforts you have shown in terms of international development assistance” and for Moon’s pledge to “double the amount of overseas aid [from South Korea] through 2020.”

The Blue House explained that the meeting that day took place was requested by Bono as an opportunity to take advantage of his South Korea visit for the performance to share his gratitude for the administration’s international contributions to disease eradication. Bono also gave Moon the gift of a poetry collection by 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Seamus Heaney, an edition signed by the author that the singer said he had taken from his own library. Expressing his sincere thanks for the gift, Moon asked him to “not forget all the many U2 fans in South Korea,” Blue House Spokesperson Ko Min-jung said.

By Lee Wan, staff reporter

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