BTS and their fans made headlines in the summer when the K-pop group donated $1 million to the Black Lives Matter cause and their fans, dubbed the Army, matched the group’s efforts a mere 25 hours later.
Now, in an interview with Variety, the seven-piece have spoken about why they decided to donate, and have opened up about the prejudice they've faced in their careers, most notably when abroad.
“When we’re abroad or in other situations, we’ve also been subjected to prejudice. We feel that prejudice should not be tolerated; it really has no place. We started to discuss what we could do to help, whether it was a donation or something else. That’s where the conversation began – just trying to see what we could do to try to alleviate this prejudice,” said Jin.
RM added: "It was a decision we thought about very carefully: what could we do as part of our overall message of speaking out against prejudice and violence? We discussed it very carefully with the company and that's how this came about."
The group also say they don't view themselves as political figures, but that "everything is political eventually".
"I don't want to speak in political terms. Ours are initiatives that any person who wishes to live in a just world would want to pursue. We aren't trying to send out some grandiose message," said Suga.
"[With regard to supporting Black Lives Matter], I think it's very simple really. It's about us being against racism and violence. Most people would be against these things. We have experienced prejudice as well ourselves. We just want to voice the fact that we feel it's the right of everyone to not be subjected to racism or violence."
Around the time the donation was made, BTS posted a simple message on their Twitter account standing with Black Lives Matter supporters in their American audience.
"We stand against racial discrimination. We condemn violence," they wrote in English and Korean. "You, I and we all have the right to be respected. We will stand together. #BlackLivesMatter."
J-Hope said: "We always want to do what we can to make it a better world, whether in Korea or elsewhere, and go in as much of a positive direction as we can, whether through our music or charity."
The group have also given speeches at the United National General Assembly, most recently being invited to speak by the Group of Friends of Solidarity for Global Health Security about the difficulties future generations will face because of the pandemic.
"Our goal, and what we really want to see, is for everyone to be able to lead safe lives. That's the motivation for donating to BLM or our Unicef campaign and other initiatives," said RM.
"What we really want to focus on now is that a lot of young people around the world are suffering because of the pandemic. We feel that what we can and should do is try to give hope and energy to people – everyone, but young people, especially – suffering from this pandemic."
Click below to see a gallery of the BTS through the years:
'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
RESULT
Manchester City 1 Sheffield United 0
Man City: Jesus (9')
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
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