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SEOUL, Dec. 9 (Korea Bizwire) -- President Moon Jae-in lauded Irish rock band U2 on Monday for its continuing efforts to promote peace and help address various problems facing the world, as he met the leader of the group at Cheong Wa Dae.

"Since the unification of Germany, South Korean people's aspiration for peace and unification of the South and the North have become stronger," Moon said during the meeting with Bono.

Pool reporters were allowed to cover the first few minutes of the session.

He talked about U2′s first-ever concert in South Korea, which was staged at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul a day earlier. First lady Kim Jung-sook attended it.

We have assembled a collection of videos you can watch of Bono at 2019's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Davos 2019: Bono, Kagame, Lagarde on causes for optimism (CNN)

Davos 2019: Bono on inclusive and sustainable development (LIVE) (The Sun)

Bono at Davos 2019: 'Capitalism is a wild beast' (The Sun)

Bono: Public and private funds need to fight poverty - Davos 2019 (with Bill McGlashan) (CNBC)

U2's Bono on the role of capitalism in combating poverty (with Bill McGlashan) (CNBC)

U2's Bono on the role of capitalism in combating poverty from CNBC.

Musician and campaigner says pressure to cut aid funding is hampering efforts to stamp out Aids

By Larry Elliott (in Davos)
Photograph: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

The world is at risk of losing the battle against HIV due to a backlash against aid triggered by a sense that western governments need to solve problems in their own countries, the musician and development campaigner Bono has said.

Speaking on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the U2 singer said populism in the rich north was the result of people being chewed up by capitalism.

Bono said 7,000 women a week were being infected by HIV/Aids and called for fresh funding for global health initiatives.

"We could lose this thing," he said. "We were winning. We have been somewhat put on the back foot by the understandable concern in northern economies that we have problems in our own cities. If there are people on the streets in our own cities, why should we care about what's going on over there?

"You can see the pain in his face, and I felt he was sincere," Bono said of the pope during a meeting at the Vatican.

By Carol Kuruvilla, Huffington Post

U2 musician Bono said he had a hard conversation with Pope Francis about the sexual abuse scandal that has been roiling the Irish singer's homeland.

Francis was "aghast" about sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church, Bono told reporters after a private meeting with the pontiff at the Vatican on Wednesday.

"I explained to him how it looks to some people that the abusers are being more protected than the victims," Bono said, according to Reuters.

The singer said Francis appeared deeply troubled by this.

"You can see the pain in his face, and I felt he was sincere," Bono said.

"I think he is an extraordinary man for extraordinary times."

A spokesman for the singer later elaborated that Bono believes Francis is "the leader to put this right and change people's perceptions that the church is doing more to protect the abusers rather than the victims," according to The Irish Times.

Written by James Viator, A freelance writer

Back in September of 2016, it looked like U2 was going to announce itself as a powerful voice of opposition to then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. Granted, this would be a fair expectation for anyone who knows the inclusive and generally liberal views of Bono and the band. But at the iHeart Radio Festival, U2 made a bold statement, blasting Trump with the simple question, "what do you have to lose?" accompanied by some video content. Clearly referring to the possibility of a Trump win, Bono declared the answer to that question to be "everything."

It's worth putting this performance in context. The concert was on the eve of the first presidential debate, when Hillary Clinton had a lead and many expected it to widen as she got the opportunity to expose Trump's policy ignorance face-to-face. For the most part, over the course of the next month and three debates, Clinton would do just that - and her lead in the polling did indeed increase. By late October, about a month after U2's performance, many were predicting a landslide, and even notoriously cautious bookmakers declared it a done deal that Clinton would win the White House. This is why, when Trump won in early November, there was genuine shock throughout the United States and the world.

Now, this is not at all to suggest that U2 contributed to that widening gap in the polls, but merely to suggest the band was riding a wave. September of 2016 was not a time for anti-Trump people to make desperate arguments or chew their fingernails nervously. It was a time to drive home the last surge of enthusiasm in a contentious campaign that looked as if it was finally going to turn out okay. It felt the same as watching Clinton dominate the third debate, or seeing her appear alongside LeBron James in Ohio.

The U2 frontman also warned President Trump's budget cuts will put progress at risk, meaning "needless infections and lives lost."

by Colin Stutz, Billboard

Since George W. Bush's presidency, Bono and the former head of state have developed somewhat of an unlikely friendship over their shared mission to fight the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and save the lives in Africa.

On Friday, the U2 frontman shared a photo with Bush taken at the former president's ranch in Crawford, Texas, applauding his righteous work and warning against the current president's proposed budget. In turn, Bush returned the praise with some kind words of his own.

"I don't see a body of water wide enough, or a wall high enough, to keep these problems from our doors," singer says at Munich Security Conferenc

By Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone

Bono argued that investments in development and education in third-world countries, and not border walls and executive orders, could prevent extremism during the U2 singer's speech at the Munich Security Conference Friday.

"I don't see a body of water wide enough, or a wall high enough, to keep these problems from our doors," Bono warned.

"The frontier of national interest is no longer the national border. You may not be interested in the trouble on a far-off street or across the Mediterranean on the other side of the globe, but let me assure you, that trouble is interested in you. Our fate is a shared fate. But which fate will it be?"

Post-US election, the band are taking time to reconsider their already completed new LP, which they might alter in light of the result

by Mazin Sidahmed, The Guardian

U2 has decided to delay their upcoming album after the surprise victory of Donald Trump, band members said in an interview, as they plan to reconsider certain songs in the wake of a Trump presidency.

Speaking with Rolling Stone, guitarist the Edge said that the band was placing the album's release on hold and taking some "breathing space" to consider what they wanted to say following Trump's ascension to the White House.

"We just went, 'Hold on a second - we've got to give ourselves a moment to think about this record and about how it relates to what's going on in the world,'" the guitarist said.

Bono blasts Republican nominee for trying to "run off with the American dream"

By Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone

U2 mocked Donald Trump and his proposed border wall before performing "Bullet the Blue Sky" at a concert in San Francisco on Wednesday.

The new bit called "Liberty..." found Bono condescending to clips of the Republican nominee touting his vast wealth and plans to build a great wall on the Mexican border. "Now candidate, you understand it's not just Mexican people who are going to have a problem with this wall of yours," Bono said. "It's everyone who loves the idea of America."

Bono spins Republican's gloomy rhetoric into optimistic message at Las Vegas concert

By Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone

Days after Bono labeled Donald Trump as "potentially the worst idea that ever happened to America," U2 spun the Republican nominee's gloomy rhetoric into an optimistic message during their performance of "Desire" Friday at the iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas.

Juxtaposing footage of a Trump's pandering plea to black voters with Las Vegas' dice-rolling reputation, Bono asked the crowd, "Are you ready to gamble your car?" before sampling the Trump sound bite "What do you have to lose?" The singer then asks the crowd "Are you ready to gamble the American Dream," which was followed by video of Trump's assertion that "the American Dream is dead."

"The American Dream is alive," Bono then shouted to the crowd before returning to "Desire."