BTS J-Hope’s “polite Korean wrist greeting” to the UN’s Deputy Secretary-General has become a hot topic

BTS J-Hope is making headlines for his polite greeting at the UN.

On September 20, BTS attended the opening ceremony of the 76th UN General Assembly’s “SDG Moment” (the high-level meeting on sustainable development goals) as a special presidential envoy for the future generation and culture.

After President Moon Jae In finished his speech, it was BTS’s turn. They drew the attention by claiming the teens and 20s people who have lost many opportunities and timing of attempts in the past 2 years due to the pandemic but still try to continue their lives shouldn’t be called the “Lost Generation”. BTS stated that these people are parts of the “Welcome Generation” instead, who move forward without being afraid of changes.

After the speech, BTS came down the podium and greeted the Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, Amina Mohammed. Due to the quarantine regulations, they had to greet each other using their wrists. What drew the attention was when J-Hope made a gesture of lifting his left arm to support his right wrist while greeting. It was pointed out that this action is used when someone treats his superiors politely in Korea.

On September 21, the UN’s official account uploaded the photo taken when J-Hope and the Deputy Secretary-General were greeting and reported BTS’s speech and performance at the UN General Assembly.

After knowing the meaning of J-Hope’s gesture, fans around the world left explosive compliments, such as, “I was able to understand about the culture of Korea (thanks to him)”, “It’s nice to see him being polite like this”, “Our country is also in Asia and has a similar gesture. I can feel the closeness of our country with Korea.”

While giving his speech at “SDG Moment”, J-Hope mentioned the importance of climate change and the necessity of searching for solutions. Moreover, BTS aroused global public opinion by announcing that all 7 members have been vaccinated.