Busan's One Asia Festival lifts Korean pop

Fans help each other before the start of Busan One Asia Festival’s opening concert in 2016.

By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Bojana Doneva

Photos =  Diana Trifonova and Bojana Doneva 

Video = Friday Chopsticks

Are you looking for your next travel destination? Here are some reasons to add Korea and the city of Busan to your travel list.

Other than the warm weather and the beautiful autumn natural scenery to be seen in "The Land of the Morning Calm," Korea has much more to offer in October. An especially good reason to visit Busan is the various festivals that will take place around the city, such as the world-renowned Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) and the Busan Fireworks Festival, among others. Another festival worth a trip to Korea’s southern coast is the Busan One Asia Festival, organized by the Busan Tourism Organization. This festival celebrates the growth in popularity of Korean pop music and Korean TV shows in East Asia and elsewhere. Although it only started last year, the festival has already turned into a beloved event, for both domestic and foreign tourists alike.

The Busan One Asia Festival takes place for the first time in 2016.

  

The charm of the Busan One Asia Festival consists of its rich program that offers a series of events that people of different ages can enjoy. Last year’s 2016 festival included Taste Busan, a food exhibition, the Korean Wave Star & Beauty Collection, a Korean Wave Stars Fan Meeting area, filmings of the popular variety TV show "Running Man" and much more. 

Outfits used on stage by some of the most famous Korean pop stars and a photo exhibition are featured at the Korean Wave Star & Beauty Collection section of the festival. 

The highlight of the festival are the One Asia Opening Concert and the One Asia Dream Concert, which is the closing ceremony. Both concerts feature some of the current biggest names from the world of Korean pop, such as BTS, Girls’ Generation, A Pink and Infinite, as well as industry veterans like PSY, Lyn and Sechs Kies. Dedicated fans show off their endless adoration for Sechs Kies and BTS, screaming at the top of their lungs, to show support for their beloved artists. Meanwhile, Korea’s favorite singer, PSY, made the whole stadium sing along last year to his hits "Daddy" and "Gangnam Style," turning the event into a real celebration.

 Pop group Infinite performs the song 'The Eye' as part of the One Asia Opening Concert last year. 

Fans of veteran group Sechs Kies welcome them back to the stage. 

During our stay in Korea last year, fellow Korea.net Honorary Reporter Diana Trifonova and I interviewed the festival's secretary general, Yoon Jeong Gook. Here is what he shared with us about the festival.

The festival's secretary general and staff post for a photo with Korea.net Honorary Reporters.  

Korea.net: Could you briefly describe the Busan One Asia Festival please?

Yoon: The Busan One Asia Festival is dedicated to the specific cultural charms of Busan, to the growth in popularity of Korean pop music and TV in East Asia and elsewhere, as well as, in a way, to general pop trends aross East Asia. We started the festival with the idea that it would one day turn into a unique forum, representing East Asia in a new way.

For the entire interview, please click the video below. 

This year, the Busan One Asia Festival returns bigger and better than ever. The festival will take place from Oct. 22 to 31. Some of the events this year are the opening ceremony, the Park Concert, the Legend Stage, the Cover Dance Contest, the Made in Busan feature, that shows performances by local Busan artists, the Awards Ceremony and much more. The opening ceremony lineup includes Got7, Nuest W, Blackpink, iKON, G-Friend and more. Even overnight sensation Wanna One, this summer’s hottest boy band, will attend the event this year. 

For more information about the different events and guest stars, please refer to the Busan One Asia Festival’s official website.

http://bof.or.kr/eng/main/ 

October is a must-travel time for any dedicated fan of Korean pop music. Don't miss the opportunity to enjoy one of Korea’s best festivals in the beautiful southern city of Busan! 

wisdom117@korea.kr

Nigeria welcomes 6th K-pop dance competition

By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Nnenna Ukandu

Photos = Nnenna Ukandu, Korean Cultural Center in Nigeria

Korean pop songs, generally branded as “K-pop” since the mid-2000s, have earned fans around the world and Nigeria is no exception.

This "Korean Wave" is surprisingly making waves in Nigeria, too, and the yearly competition that the Korean Cultural Center in Nigeria hosts is creating more awareness among youth as the number of entries keeps increasing every year.

The Korean Cultural Center in Nigeria hosts a yearly K-pop dance competition in Nigeria to pick the best group that will represent Nigeria in Korea. So far, it has been a tough competition whereby people from different parts of the country send in entries.

For two consecutive years, Nigeria has made us proud in Korea by bringing home awards as the first-placed team in 2015 and the best performance in 2016 at the K-pop World Festival in Changwon, Korea, in those years.

This year’s competition was held on July 8 at the Nicon luxury hotel in Abuja after preliminary online screenings of 39 entries from both the student and adult categories. Seven entries were selected from each category, making a total number of 14 entries. Only the best group from the adult category would represent Nigeria in Changwon this year.

This is my third K-pop dance competition in Nigeria, and it has never disappointed us K-pop fans in Nigeria. I always look forward to this day every year because to me it’s like an entire K-pop concert. We don’t get to have real K-pop concerts here, so we can do this competition, instead.

This year’s competition ended so well. In the adult category, the group I rooted for, K-night Africa, won covering the song “Without You” by Romeo. In the student category, the group Crew 101 won by covering the BTS song “Not Today."

Guess what! We got free K-pop caps and it made my day!

I pray and hope that the Nigerian group will make us proud once again this year in Changwon.

wisdom117@korea.kr

Korean-themed Mall Opens in Bangkok

By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Alexandra Taseva

Video = Arirang TV

Korean culture mall Show DC opens in Bangkok, Thailand. (Show DC)

The Korean Wave or Hallyu is spreading every year to many corners of the world through music and dance contests to Korean cultural centers in cities across Asia, Europe and the Americas. One Hallyu hotspot is Bangkok, Thailand, where  Show DC, a Korean-themed shopping mall and entertainment complex, was opened on April 10. The Thai company that spent USD 275 million on this project is banking on growing interest in Korean pop culture in Thailand and Southeast Asia. 

Chayaditt Hutanuwatra, chairman of the mall's builder SHOW D.C. Corp. Ltd., said, "A lot of people around the world are Korea lovers, which is interesting to me. So we've made the entire ground floor into a 'K-district' that houses a lot of Korean eateries and stores for cosmetics and street fashion. Those who are fans of Korea can come over and enjoy the atmosphere."

A generic view of Show DC Korean-theme mall is seen before an opening ceremony. (Reuters)

Covering 180,000 square meters, Show DC  targets both Thai and foreign fans of Korean pop culture. The aim is to attract 10 million visitors a year in becoming a major attraction in what was the world's most visited city last year.

Chayaditt said, "With every stone, piece of gravel and tree used to build this place all these years, we aim to make Show DC the country's masterpiece."

The front of the Show DC Korean-themed mall is decorated with photos of Korean actors. (Reuters)

The mall has stores selling Korean clothing and cosmetics brands endorsed by K-pop artists and restaurants offering Korean cuisine, along with statues and palm prints of Korean stars. Plans are also in the works to bring Korean performers to the mall's concert hall. Despite the complex offering a wide range of Korean products and ambience, a Thai visitor said she still wants to visit Korea.

"We might not need to travel to Korea anymore if everything Korean is here. But by going to Korea, I'll get to experience first-hand their culture and tourist attractions rather than just walking in a shopping mall," said Thanaporn Somdee.

Fireworks explode over the Show DC Korean-theme mall in an opening ceremony. (Reuters)

Around a third of the estimated 34 million tourists forecast to visit Thailand this year will hail from China, where interest in Hallyu is huge. 

Click here to watch a news clip about the entertainment complex. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_Y8v6hquL0

wisdom117@korea.kr

K-con Mexico 2017

By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Carlos Delfin

Photo = K-con Mexico staff

The unstoppable tide of the rising Korean Wave continues to find new shores around the world. Mexico has been one of the biggest recipients for this wave of pop culture, with a growing number of loyal K-fans.

On this occasion, the followers of Hallyu -- the growth in popularity of Korean pop music and TV shows in East Asia and elsewhere -- were pleasantly surprised with the realization of the first K-con convention, not only in Mexico, but also in all of Latin America. K-con Mexico 2017 made available to fans of K-pop and of Korean TV shows a large number of events, conferences, products and other attractions related to Korea, both ancient and current.

A large percentage of the fans is made up of young people who have discovered in Korea a country of their dreams, through soap operas and, of course, through pop music.

That is why the main event at this K-con convention consisted of groups and soloists of great popularity. Bands like Astro, Exid, NCT 127, Red Velvet, Infinite H, Monsta X, soloist Eric Nam and fan favorites BTS were all there. They met at the Arena Mexico on March 17 and 18 to remind us why K-pop is still the spearhead of Hallyu.

Just like Korean food, the main dish is usually delicious, but the side dishes are perfect complements. In addition to the main concerts, there were red carpet events and fan meet-and-greets. There were several guests invited for their outstanding work in spreading their knowledge about all things Korean all around the world. People like Nalu Latina Saram, JuNCurryAhn, JRE, among others, showed themselves opened and closed to their fans, who were counted by the hundreds of thousands.

Attendees were delighted by the variety of Korean products on display at the different stands. They didn't miss the opportunity to stock up on Korean makeup, snacks, cosmetics, clothes and all sorts of other accessories from their favorite East Asian country.

The artists expressed their great love for Mexico and their appreciation for the great affection they received from the thousands of Mexican fans who are now looking forward to the realization of K-con 2018. See you there~

wisdom117@korea.kr