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“Let’s make it so we’re all #GoingTogether by learning together.”

Seventeen, the 13-member pop group, has become the first K-pop act to speak and perform on stage at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France.

Seventeen participated in a special session of the UNESCO Youth Forum during the education and cultural agency’s general conference, during which they spoke on solidarity between youth, and how education changes the youth and the future.

This was the first time that a K-pop artist had been scheduled for an entire session at a general assembly-level event by UNESCO. Out of the bakers’ dozen members that make up Seventeen, Seungkwan, Jun, Woozi, Mingyu, Joshua, and Vernon made remarks at the event.

Seungkwan was the first up to the podium, where he spoke about his home of Jeju, remarking on its special relationship with UNESCO.

“Success didn’t come quickly, but the 13 of us spending time together and sharing our passions made every minute of the ride enjoyable. We were always cheerful and all smiles, no matter what,” said Woozi, the lead vocalist and main producer for the group.

“Each of us had our own strengths, whether it was in our vocals, performing, or hip-hop. And as 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 are at it, was our own special way of growing,” he added.

Sharing the story of their donation of 13 goats to Tanzanian children that began Seventeen’s philanthropic activities, Mingyu pledged to work with UNESCO to take their giving to a global scale.

“Going forward, we plan to improve educational infrastructure in the least developed countries by building schools. We’ll also strive to keep the education around education going,” Joshua shared. “We pledge to work as ambassadors to UNESCO to further raise awareness of the critical challenges in our time.”

Since 2017, the boy group has been making donations to children’s organizations or foundations each year on the anniversary of their debut. This past May, the group marked their seventh anniversary with a donation to the Korean National Commission to UNESCO for children and teens.

Seventeen’s agency Pledis Entertainment teamed up with the Korean National Commission to UNESCO to kickstart the “Going Together” campaign, aimed at raising awareness about the importance of education. This caught the attention of UNESCO headquarters, which proposed a three-way partnership with the Korean National Commission and Pledis, leading to Seventeen’s participation in this year’s Youth Forum.

Following speeches by its members, Seventeen performed five of their songs, including singles “_World,” “Darl+ing,” and “Headliner.” The 1,220 seats in the main hall of the building were filled with youth representatives from 173 countries, 550 fans picked through a raffle, and officials from participating nations. Cheers from fans could be heard for miles.

By Kim Myoung-jin, senior staff writer

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