#Watch BTS perform “Permission To Dance” at the United Nations

For the third time in two years, BTS traveled to the United Nations in New York City on Monday. They didn’t attend as visitors: the Korean pop group are the “Special Presidential Envoy for Future Generations and Culture” for South Korea and gave a speech in front of the General Assembly that was introduced by the country’s President Moon Jae-in. The topic of the speech was “the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) moment,” and the group spoke about the effects of COVID on the youth around the world as well as fantastically successful musicians.

At some point after the speech, the United Nations debuted a new BTS performance of their hit “Permission To Dance,” filmed in an empty United Nations building. The speech focused on retaining optimism in a troubling world, so the white-knuckled cheerfulness of the song is in keeping with the theme. Still, it’s incredibly jarring to see a bunch of choreographed moves in a place that’s supposed to solving things like famine and diarrhea. In fact, those are the kinds of things I can’t help but think about when I watch this, so I suppose the video is having the opposite of its intended effect.

Thumbnail photo courtesy of Big Hit Music