28 August 2024, Seoul. The Philippine Embassy in Seoul was very pleased to welcome National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Youth and Sentro Rizal Ambassadors SB19 to the Chancery on 28 August 2024. Considered trailblazers in bringing contemporary Asian pop music to the global stage, SB19 is an award-winning Philippine Pop boy group with a mission to promote the Filipino spirit, music, and culture worldwide.

SB19 members Pablo, Josh, Stell, Ken and Justin are also advocates of promoting Philippine arts and culture worldwide through Sentro Rizal. Sentro Rizal aims to promote Philippine arts, culture, and language throughout the world through the establishment of Philippine centers in various countries which initiate and organize cultural training programs and activities for overseas Filipinos. Sentro Rizal has thirty-eight (38) sites all over the world, including the Sentro Rizal Hall and Library located at the 2/F of the Philippine Embassy in Seoul which the group visited.

Ambassador Theresa Dizon-De Vega welcomed SB19 to the Sentro Rizal Library and expressed her appreciation for the band's solid contribution to uplifting the Filipino identity through their music and stellar performance. Ambassador Dizon-De Vega also gave the band commemorative pins bearing the 75th anniversary logo of PH-ROK relations during their visit.

SB19 was in South Korea to receive the Voices of Asia Award, which honors their "groundbreaking contributions to Filipino music and their unwavering championing of P-pop on the global stage," and which the group dedicated to the P-pop movement, Original Pilipino Music (OPM), and to every Filipino that shares their creativity and passion across Asia and the world. Filipina pop group Bini also received the same award.

The strong ties between the Philippines and the Republic of Korea are built through our people-to-people exchanges, particularly our shared affinity for music. In their role as Filipino music icons and cultural ambassadors, SB19 has been an active and solid partner of the Philippine Embassy in furthering PH-ROK cultural cooperation through numerous events, including headlining the 2024 Pistang Pinoy sa Korea Independence Day celebration in Busan last June and band member Josh Cullen's solo stage at the ASEAN-Korea Music Festival Round in July 2024.

The Philippine Embassy in Seoul will continue to advocate and initiate activities that bring the Philippines and the Republic of Korea closer together through culture, music, and the arts.
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