BTS attend a meeting during the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters on Sept. 24, 2018.
Last year, chart-topping South Korean septet BTS teamed up with UNICEF Korea for their ‘Love Myself’ anti-violence campaign, and Friday (Nov. 2) it was revealed that the initiative had raised over $1 million.
In a Newsen article shared by BTS’ label Big Hit Entertainment’s official Twitter account, UNICEF Korea shared that the band's support of the campaign raised over 1.6 billion KRW, or just over $1.4 million USD.
“In the year since UNICEF and BTS joined together to eradicate violence against children, we have raised over 1.6 billion won,” said UNICEF Korea in a statement. “During it, they have continued to spread their positive influence, such as with the UN General Assembly ‘Speak Yourself’ speech.”
During the September speech, BTS’ RM spoke of the importance of youth to assert themselves and follow their dreams.
Both the Love Myself campaign and the Speak Yourself speech tied into BTS’ 2017-18 contemplative Love Yourself album trilogy, which saw both the Love Yourself: Tear and Love Yourself: Answer albums top the Billboard 200 this year.
The Love Myself campaign has raised funds based on direct donations and a percentage of the income from the Love Yourself series and other related goods. At the launch of the event last year, BTS and its label Big Hit Entertainment announced they planned to donate 500 million (around $447,000 USD) KRW.
Though it's not updated in real time -- it currently states that the fund has accumulated 1.15 billion KRW -- the Love Myself website has recorded over 6.7 million uses of the hashtag #BTSLoveMyself.
BTS shared a video through the Love Myself Twitter account in which they celebrated the campaign's anniversary and thanked their fanbase, ARMY, for supporting it. The group's fans regularly partake in charitable initiatives, and there are several fan-run accounts dedicated to coordinating donation events.
THANKS TO ARMY
LOVE MYSELF ??? 1??!1? ?? LOVE MYSELF ???? ????
? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ????.
??? 1??? ?? ??????! #BTSLoveMyself #ENDviolence #unicef #???? pic.twitter.com/er1bLNJyIS— LOVE MYSELF (@bts_love_myself) November 1, 2018