ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the rationale and process of the South Korean boy band BTS joining hands with the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) as a case of Hallyu diplomacy. The main aim is to shed light not only on the potential and pitfalls of the UN’s celebrity diplomacy, but also to provide an assessment of the global phenomenon of BTS from a different angle, which hopefully will contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of Hallyu. To do so, the chapter first engages in a discussion of the concept and practice of UN’s celebrity diplomacy, and how South Korea became involved in the programme in the early 1990s. This is followed by a brief introduction to the Korean Wave’s history and recent developments, and how this is reflected in the existing literature. Based on a catalogue of criteria derived from this discussion of the literature, the main section then provides an analytical account of the characteristics of BTS’s partnership with UNICEF.
