Seventeen named UNESCO's first Goodwill Ambassador for Youth

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, seventh from left, and the members of K-pop boy group Seventeen pose during a photocall before their nomination ceremony as Goodwill Ambassador for Youth at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, Wednesday. Reuters-Yonhap

Boy group Seventeen has been officially named UNESCO's first-ever Goodwill Ambassador for Youth, becoming the first K-pop artist to pull off the feat.

Seventeen attended UNESCO's nomination ceremony at its headquarters in Paris, Wednesday. The members received a letter of appointment from UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, before delivering a 10-minute acceptance speech.

"Today, we are humbled and overwhelmed to stand before you for the first time as UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassador for Youth," Los Angeles-born member Joshua said in English on his team's behalf. "It is a great honor to be representing today’s young people, which is the priority group for UNESCO."

He added, "We are grateful to be recognized for our consistent effort and longstanding passion to contribute to youth worldwide. Looking back, this has been a long journey for us, taking one step at a time, until we could stand before you as the Ambassador for Youth. Ever since we made our debut, our music has talked about our own experiences and genuine emotions."

The 28-year-old stressed that Seventeen will strive to spread the power of companionship and play a role in building supportive youth communities.

"For the next chapter of our 'Going Together' campaign, Seventeen will donate $1 million to the joint 'Global Youth Grant Scheme' with UNESCO," he revealed.

UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay, center, gestures with the members of K-pop group Seventeen, Wednesday, at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. AP-Yonhap

Seventeen and the Korean National Commission for UNESCO has been running the #Going Together campaign since August 2022 to promote the significance of education and encourage more people to take part in various educational activities. "Global Youth Grant Scheme" is UNESCO's program seeking to mobilize resources to help young people across the globe.

"We believe that youths have the most creative ideas and the strongest determination to make the world a better place," Joshua said. "Let us all be one team and build a supportive community of global youth."

Seventeen's agency, Pledis Entertainment, noted that the appointment is the international community's recognition of the group's global clout.

"Since its debut in 2015, Seventeen has ceaselessly shared narratives about its growth in its music, communicating with young people worldwide," Pledis said in a statement, June 11. "Through its music, the group has imparted positive messages to listeners, encouraging them to overcome hardships instead of getting frustrated."

Seventeen recently made headlines for establishing two community learning centers in East Timor in cooperation with the Korean National Commission for UNESCO. This was part of the #Going Together campaign as well.

Last November, Seventeen gave a speech at a special session of the 13th UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris, disclosing its plan to enhance educational infrastructure in the world's least developed countries.

The group hit the music scene with the EP "17 Carat" in 2015 and has unleashed a string of hits such as "Very Nice" (2016) and "Don't Wanna Cry" (2017). Its latest album, "17 IS RIGHT HERE," which came out in April, sold more than 2.9 million copies during the first week of its release and debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart.