President Moon Jae-in sent a congratulatory message on Tuesday to boy band BTS for hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart with its new single “Dynamite,” in a first for any South Korean artist.

Saying BTS had written a new chapter in K-pop history and increased the nation’s pride in K-pop, Moon offered the band his heartfelt congratulations.
“This song ‘Dynamite,’ which topped the list, is all the more meaningful as it has been composed to give a message of comfort and hope to people around the world who are struggling with COVID-19,” he said on his Twitter account.

“Dynamite,” the group’s first all-English-language single, ranked first on the Billboard chart in the United States on Monday. Since the seven-member band released its digital single “Dynamite” on Aug. 21, the song has drawn 33.9 million streams in the United States with 30,000 units sold in its first week, ending Aug. 27, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.

Lee Nak-yon, the new chairman of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, expressed his gratitude to BTS for giving him consolation and energy to make it through the difficult times, calling the band’s music “a powerful dynamite that sweeps out depression caused by the virus pandemic” on his Twitter account.

Justice Party spokesman Kim Jong-chul said BTS’ music motivates fans and listeners to channel positive energy from the inside out. “I hope that such efforts (that BTS has been making) could constantly reach out to Koreans and global citizens who are exhausted from the upheaval of their lives,” he said during the party’s briefing.

Rep. Yoon Young-chan of the Democratic Party posted a picture on his Facebook account of himself surrounded by the members of BTS, recalling their meeting in Paris in 2018, when he accompanied President Moon for a state visit.

“I have been familiar with the Billboard chart since the early 1980s, when I started listening to pop songs as a high school kid, but I never thought a Korean singer would hit the top of the chart,” he said.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)