Hoping their rebirth will lead to peace in the Middle East
SEOUL: On March 21, 2026, Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul is heating up with the eyes of citizens and fans around the world waiting for the return stage of BTS. As the members complete their military service and prepare to resume activities as a full group, expectations for a new album and performance are growing. Their comeback stage is not merely a pop-culture celebration. The return of seven young men after a long pause for military duty feels like a signal that time has begun to move again, a declaration that our era has not yet lost the power of “rebirth.”
At the very same moment, however, the skies over the Middle East on the other side of the globe continue to tremble with the sound of gunfire. International politics moves coldly within the framework of national interests, and diplomatic rhetoric often appears powerless in the face of the cries from the battlefield. Countless meetings and agreements take place, yet human suffering does not easily stop. At such times, history always asks us a question:
“What can overcome conflicts that politics cannot resolve?”
Since founding the Asia Journalist Association (AJA) in 2004, I have stood with journalists across Asia at the front lines of wars and conflicts. Through long nights spent with reporters in regions divided by war, coups, and religious tensions, I learned one truth. Politics divides people, but culture brings them back together. Guns silence human voices, but songs make people speak again.
In 2002, while preparing for the founding of AJA, I remember singing the Beatles’ “Let It Be” in Malacca, Malaysia, together with journalists who later became founding members — Ivan Lim from Singapore, Norila Daud from Malaysia, and Sophal Chhay from Cambodia. Since then, whenever we meet, we have sung that song together. These days, it comes to mind more often than ever.
This is precisely why BTS receives love from all over the world. We live in a time when a song sung in Korean can comfort a young person in Iran and give hope to a student in Lebanon. This is a powerful form of soft power that no diplomatic document can ever achieve — a bond of life that connects human beings beyond borders.
The name “Arirang,” often mentioned as a symbol of this new activity, carries deep meaning. Arirang is a song of sorrow, yet it never remains in despair. It speaks of separation while believing in reunion. Through countless wars and colonial suffering, the Korean people never stopped singing Arirang, because within that melody lies the power of rebirth that allows human beings to stand again.
Since my first blood donation on December 24, 1980, I have participated in the blood-donation movement for more than forty years, learning the value of life. Just as a drop of blood from one person can save another, I believe a single sincere song can heal an era. Guns and missiles can destroy cities, but culture rebuilds homes upon the ruins of broken hearts. As long as humanity does not abandon the will to live, songs will never stop.
Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf once told me,
“Art dies when it ignores suffering, and lives when it embraces it.”
British poet Dylan Thomas cried out,
“Do not go gentle into that good night.”
It is a call that humanity must never remain silent in the face of despair.
Tonight, I hope the song that will rise from Gwanghwamun becomes such a cry. I hope it becomes a message of life sent to all who continue to live under the shadow of war. I think of young people in the Middle East who listen to music while dreaming of tomorrow amid the sound of gunfire. If they can share even a moment of longing for peace while listening to a Korean song, that song has already crossed every border.
Peace does not come only after the guns fall silent. When we refuse to give up songs for peace, war has already begun to end. The rebirth of BTS is a sign that hope is still alive in our time, proof that we can still choose hope instead of hatred.
May the melody that begins in Gwanghwamun spread beyond Asia to the Middle East, and to every wounded land, as a song of life once again.
