A K-Pop live performance might be held in Hong Kong in February and aired throughout mainland China by a state-run broadcaster, the organizer stated, amid rising hopes of cultural exchanges between China and South Korea after almost a decade of an unofficial ban.
Chinese President Xi Jinping final month visited South Korea for the primary time in 11 years and held a summit with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, the place the 2 leaders additionally mentioned cultural exchanges, elevating hopes of China lifting its unofficial ban on Korean tradition.
The unofficial ban was launched in 2017 as China protested in opposition to the U.S. deployment of a missile defend system in South Korea and has in impact meant no Korean live shows or TV reveals have been authorized by the Chinese authorities.
Dream Concert 2026 might be held at Kai Tak Sports Park for 2 days from February 6 and the recording might be broadcast by China’s state-run Hunan Television, based on From Entertainment, a South Korean agency organizing the occasion.
“It will be the first time for a K-Pop concert to be broadcast in mainland China since cultural exchanges were severed. First in years,” an official at From Entertainment stated on Tuesday.
China’s international ministry stated on Tuesday it was not conscious of any deliberate live shows or lifting of the unofficial ban on K-Pop.
The two nations are additionally coordinating a go to by Lee to China early subsequent yr, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun stated in an interview with Yonhap News on Monday.
The From Entertainment official gave no particulars of which K-Pop acts could be performing.
Dream Concert, a K-Pop occasion hosted yearly by the Korea Entertainment Producer’s Association, was held this yr in Abu Dhabi in November, after South Korean media reported that earlier plans of holding it in mainland China and Hong Kong have been cancelled.
South Korean leisure agency CJ ENM additionally hosted its annual MAMA Awards in Hong Kong final month.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.