Park Jin-young meets Chinese president, sparking speculation over lifting of hallyu ban

Park Jin-young, left, co-chair of the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange, speaks with Chinese President Xi Jinping as President Lee Jae Myung looks on, Saturday. Courtesy of Park's Instagram

Park Jin-young, co-chair of the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange, met with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a dinner at the Korea-China summit held alongside the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, fueling speculation that China’s unofficial ban on Korean cultural content may soon be lifted.

The committee, however, urged caution against placing too much meaning on the encounter.

Park, the founder of K-pop powerhouse JYP Entertainment, shared a photo of his meeting with Xi on social media Sunday. “I was truly glad to meet and speak with President Xi Jinping. I hope that through popular culture, our two peoples can grow even closer," he wrote. The message was also posted in Chinese.

Rep. Kim Young-bae of the Democratic Party of Korea wrote on Facebook that during the summit dinner, Xi responded positively to a suggestion from President Lee Jae Myung and Park about holding a large-scale concert in Beijing, even calling Foreign Minister Wang Yi over to give direct instructions.

“It could mark a historic moment — not just the end of the Korean wave (hallyu) ban, but the beginning of a full reopening for K-content in China,” Kim said.

National Security Adviser Wi Sung-rak also noted after the summit that the two leaders had “reached a consensus to expand cultural exchange and cooperation, particularly in content,” adding that further coordination would take place at the working level.

China imposed the so-called hallyu ban in 2016 in retaliation for Korea’s deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, effectively halting the import and broadcast of Korean entertainment content.

Although some fan meetings and exhibitions have been approved by Chinese authorities in recent years, large-scale K-pop concerts remain prohibited.

Following Park’s meeting with Xi, optimism spread that the restriction might soon be lifted. Still, the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange cautioned that “the exchange between President Xi and Chairman Park was a brief, courtesy-level conversation at an official diplomatic event,” adding that “it would be premature to interpret it as a policy shift.”

The committee added, however, that “as this summit has clearly improved the atmosphere of friendship and cooperation between the two countries, we hope it will lead to more active cultural exchanges in the near future.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.