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| The Korea Festival is scheduled to take place at the Deutsche Bank Park Stadium in Frankfurt, Germany, May 14 and 15 (local time.) Courtesy of Korea Tourism Organization |
By Dong Sun-hwa
As the world seeks a transition from pandemic to endemic, a series of festivals and live concerts are set to take place offline in Korea and beyond to entertain pandemic-weary people.
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) and the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Frankfurt, Germany, are planning to hold the Korea Festival at the Deutsche Bank Park Stadium in Frankfurt, May 14 and 15 (local time). It will be the largest Korean cultural festival to take place in Europe since the COVID-19 outbreak began, and is expected to draw some 80,000 people.
The event will be held in conjunction with "KPOP.FLEX," a K-pop concert featuring some of the most celebrated K-pop acts like Exo's Kai, Mamamoo, NCT Dream, (G)I-DLE, Monsta X and IVE. Local broadcaster SBS will organize the concert in cooperation with its partners including PK Events based in Germany.
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| Kai of K-pop boy group EXO / Courtesy of SM Entertainment |
"Thanks to many factors ― such as the meteoric rise of over-the-top (OTT) platforms ― the exports of Korean content have grown by 18.7 percent on average annually over the past five years," a KTO official said. "Through our upcoming event, we will get more people overseas who love Korean culture to visit Korea."
Beautiful Mint Life, a widely known indie music festival, is also being held from May 13 to 15 at Olympic Park in southeastern Seoul. For this year's event, 22 talented acts including N.Flying, Seodo Band, Daybreak, Lucy and Peppertones will take the stage.
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| "Beautiful Mint Life" is being held from May 13 to 15 at Olympic Park in southern Seoul. Courtesy of Mint Paper |
Seoul Jazz Festival is also slated to take place from May 27 to 29 at Olympic Park. Tickets for the festival, which will feature prominent stars like Alec Benjamin, AKMU, Epik High and Honne, sold out in less than two minutes, according to its organizer Private Curve.
On June 18, the Korea Entertainment Producers' Association (KEPA) is poised to hold Dream Concert at Jamsil Arena in southeastern Seoul. The names of the headliners have been kept under wraps, but given that it is one of the largest annual K-pop concerts in Korea, a slew of big-name singers are expected to make their appearance. Last year, NCT Dream, aespa, Brave Girls and Itzy were among the performers.
Dream Concert took place online in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We will try our best to showcase memorable performances for K-pop fans around the world, who have been looking forward to Dream Concert for a long time," KEPA President Lim Baek-woon said. "We also hope our event can contribute to the revitalization of the performance industry."
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