{"id":21167,"date":"2026-05-02T04:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T03:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=21167"},"modified":"2026-05-02T04:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T03:22:08","slug":"k-pops-bts-comeback-tour-rallies-south-koreas-global-soft-power-drive-arts-and-culture-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=21167","title":{"rendered":"K-pop\u2019s BTS comeback tour rallies South Korea\u2019s global \u2018soft power\u2019 drive | Arts and Culture News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Seoul<\/strong> \u2013 Shekinah Yawra had no other option but to spend the night at a South Korean jjimjilbang, a 24-hour bathhouse, after every hotel near central Seoul sold out in late March.<\/p>\n

But sleep was secondary for the 32-year-old Filipino who had made her way to Seoul\u2019s Gwanghwamun Square at 7am to secure a spot in a crowd that city officials estimated would grow to hundreds of thousands.<\/p>\n

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Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n

list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n

All this was for a glimpse at the seven-member K-pop supergroup BTS, who returned to the stage on March 21 after almost four years away from the limelight for their staggered, mandatory military service.<\/p>\n

Though she failed to secure one of 22,000 free tickets for BTS\u2019s first return concert in the square, Yawra was still ecstatic to stand on the sidelines and watch the concert live on a big screen set up for the occasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all came just for this,\u201d she told Al Jazeera, recounting how friends had flown in from the Philippines for a single night to catch the concert.<\/p>\n

Worldwide, more than 18.4 million viewers tuned in for the Netflix livestream of the concert.<\/p>\n

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Kpop group BTS perform during \u2018BTS The Comeback Live Arirang\u2019 concert in central Seoul, South Korea, March 21, 2026 [Kim Hong-ji\/Pool\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With an estimated 30 million fans worldwide<\/a> \u2013 who refer to themselves as the BTS ARMY \u2013 the K-pop group is the most visible symbol of \u201cHallyu\u201d, or the \u201cKorean Wave\u201d, and the global surge of interest in South Korean popular culture and the financial revenues being generated as a result.<\/p>\n

In late March, BTS\u2019s 10th studio album, Arirang, topped the charts in the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom, the world\u2019s three largest music markets. The group\u2019s upcoming world tour is expected to generate more than $1.4bn<\/a> in revenue across more than 80 shows in 23 countries.<\/p>\n

Domestically, inbound tourist numbers for the first 18 days of March rose 32.7 percent from the previous month, according to Ministry of Justice data, as the return concert approached and hotel prices surged across central Seoul amid the demand for rooms.<\/p>\n

In the week leading up to the concert, sales of BTS merchandise \u2013 from BTS glow sticks to blankets \u2013 surged 430 percent at the Shinsegae Duty Free retail outlet in central Seoul, the company said.<\/p>\n

Over the concert weekend, revenues also rose 30 percent at the city\u2019s Lotte Department Store and 48 percent at Shinsegae overall, compared with the same March weekend a year earlier, in 2025.<\/p>\n

\"Fans
Fans cheer before the BTS The Comeback Live Arirang concert as they wait near the concert venue, in central Seoul, South Korea, on March 21, 2026 [Kim Hong-ji\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As far back as 2022, the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute (KCTI) \u2013 a government-sponsored think tank and research organisation \u2013 estimated that a single BTS concert in Seoul could generate up to 1.2 trillion won ($798m) in overall economic impact.<\/p>\n

KCTI researcher Yang Ji-hoon told Al Jazeera that a sample study of the crowd at the BTS comeback event at Gwanghwamun Square highlighted the uniqueness of fandom-driven tourism. More than half of those at the concert were foreign visitors and many required long-haul travel to attend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Europe and the United States, travel tends to be concentrated within its own regions,\u201d Yang said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, for people to overcome such travel barriers and come to South Korea, it usually requires more than just ordinary motivation or typical spending \u2013 it\u2019s not something that happens easily,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

K-pop\u2019s transition to the global mainstream<\/h3>\n

The scale of BTS\u2019s return to the entertainment world reflects a broader state-backed strategy.<\/p>\n

When music promoter Hybe requested Seoul city support for the Gwanghwamun square comeback concert, authorities approved it on public-interest grounds, treating the event as a showcase of national cultural influence.<\/p>\n

Almost befitting an official event, more than 10,000 state personnel were deployed for security, logistics and crowd control.<\/p>\n

According to data retrieved by South Korean publication Sisain, through\u00a0a public information disclosure request to the Seoul government, close to 130 million won ($87,400) of city funds were spent as part of logistics for the comeback concert.<\/p>\n

South Korean government support for BTS has a precedent.<\/p>\n

As members of the boyband approached South Korea\u2019s mandatory military service age, policymakers debated special exemptions for members of BTS, which was estimated to have generated $4.65bn annually<\/a> to the country\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

After BTS\u2019s forthcoming concerts in Mexico City sold out in just 37 minutes, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum urged South Korea\u2019s President Lee Jae Myung to \u201cbring the acclaimed K-pop artists more often\u201d, noting nearly one million fans in Mexico had attempted to secure 150,000 tickets.<\/p>\n

South Korea\u2019s cultural influence is also extending beyond music.<\/p>\n

South Korea\u2019s cosmetics exports surpassed $11bn last year, according to global accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), overtaking France in cosmetics shipments to the US, while South Korean food and agricultural exports reached a record $13.6bn, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.<\/p>\n

KCTI researcher Yang described the growing interest as a phase of \u201ctransition to the global mainstream\u201d, where South Korean products are internationally recognised and content output is measured against worldwide benchmarks such as the Billboard charts and the Academy Awards.<\/p>\n

He also warned that structural reform is now essential to keep pace with the wave of interest in South Korea.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the industries expand in scale, they must also evolve in its underlying systems, infrastructure, and workforce,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than focusing solely on direct financial support, future governmental policies should move toward strengthening foundational conditions \u2013 such as improving labour environments, addressing unfair practices, building relevant infrastructure, and establishing more robust statistical and data systems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Politicians appear to be paying attention.<\/p>\n

During his election campaign last year, President Lee framed the next phase of cultural expansion as \u201cHallyu (Korean Wave) 4.0\u201d, with promises to grow the sector into a 300 trillion won ($203bn) industry with 50 trillion won ($34bn) in exports.<\/p>\n

In line with this vision, the government set the budget to bolster \u201cK-content\u201d, support the \u201cpure\u201d arts sector and strengthen the overall culture-related fields at a record 9.6 trillion won ($6.5bn) \u2014 reflecting the president\u2019s view of the cultural sector as a strategic national industry rather than merely a consumer market.<\/p>\n

South Korea\u2019s strategy appears to be paying off.<\/p>\n

South Korea now ranks 11th globally in \u201csoft power\u201d, according to Brand Finance\u2019s Global Soft Power Index, placing the country as both \u201cinfluential in arts and entertainment\u201d and \u201cproducts and brands the world loves\u201d, just behind the US, France, the United Kingdom and Japan.<\/p>\n

The darker side of K-pop: Pressure to become a perfect idol<\/h3>\n

Amid its global success, the darker side of the K-culture industry has received more scrutiny.<\/p>\n

Mega-promoter Hybe has been embroiled in a prolonged dispute with K-pop\u2019s New Jeans, a band considered to be a potential heir to BTS and their all-female colleagues Blackpink. The highly public legal dispute that started in 2024 highlights industry tensions over creative control and artist autonomy.<\/p>\n

Since the early 2000s, K-pop has also grappled with the legacy of \u201cslave contracts\u201d, or highly restrictive agreements limiting artists\u2019 freedom. Although reforms by the Fair Trade Commission have improved protections for performers, contractual obligations in the K-pop industry are exacting on new performers and their strict work routines have long been documented.<\/p>\n

From their trainee years, aspiring idols endure gruelling schedules that involve long workdays and little sleep.<\/p>\n

Many top stars often face contractual restrictions on socialising, using their phones or dating. They are also typically limited in what they can say publicly, relying on agency-managed messaging to communicate with fans and the media.<\/p>\n

While the rise of social media and other online platforms has opened new avenues for more direct expression and interaction in recent years, concerns over burnout and depression have continued to shadow the industry, with several high-profile stars taking their own lives.<\/p>\n

Beauty standards associated with the K-culture genre have also become another flashpoint for controversy.<\/p>\n

A 2024 report by South Korean economy news site Uppity<\/a> found 98 percent of 1,283 respondents born between 1980 and 2000 viewed physical appearance as among the most desirable \u201csocial capital\u201d an individual can possess.<\/p>\n

Nearly 40 percent of respondents in the survey had undergone cosmetic procedures, while more than 90 percent held neutral or positive attitudes regarding undergoing medical procedures to enhance beauty.<\/p>\n

According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, South Korea has the world\u2019s highest rate of procedures, with 8.9 per 1,000 people compared with 5.91 per 1,000 people in the US and just 2.13 per 1,000 in neighbouring Japan.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yoo Seung-chul, a professor of media studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said that K-culture has reinforced the normalising of beauty as a significant metric of personal and social value.<\/p>\n

\u201cK-culture has reinforced systems and structures around self-expression,\u201d Yoo told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the rise of webtoons that incorporate themes like plastic surgery, there has been a noticeable reduction in the stigma towards going under the knife among younger audiences in their teens and early twenties,\u201d Yoo said, explaining that popular plastic surgery platforms such as Unni have further normalised the trend by connecting people to clinics and reviews of these clinics and their surgeons.<\/p>\n

At the same time, globalisation has reshaped the K-culture industry itself. Many new K-pop acts now include international members to broaden appeal.<\/p>\n

Hybe has expanded this strategy through its US subsidiary, Hybe America, producing globally oriented groups like Katseye, which only has one South Korean member in its six-member girl group.<\/p>\n

The shift has prompted debate.<\/p>\n

Even BTS\u2019s latest album Arirang \u2013 a nod to South Korea\u2019s most iconic folk song \u2013 has divided fans over its use of English lyrics and foreign producers.<\/p>\n

\u201cK-content is being designed with global audiences in mind from the outset. In film, there has been a noticeable rise in genres like horror and science fiction, which are easier to export internationally,\u201d Yoo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis global orientation is also reflected in K-pop agencies recruiting foreign members for idol groups,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But international audiences do not always prefer highly globalised versions of Korean content, Yoo said, adding, in fact, that many are drawn to K-pop\u2019s \u201csense of locality\u201d.<\/p>\n

As audiences increasingly seek authenticity, Yoo argues the industry faces a defining challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndustries and companies need to figure out how to preserve a sense of local identity while effectively marketing to global audiences,\u201d Yoo added.<\/p>\n

\u201cStriking that balance will be crucial in shaping the next phase of Korea\u2019s cultural exports.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Seoul \u2013 Shekinah Yawra had no other option but to spend the night at a South Korean jjimjilbang, a 24-hour bathhouse, after every hotel near central Seoul sold out in late March. But sleep was secondary for the 32-year-old Filipino who had made her way to Seoul\u2019s Gwanghwamun Square at 7am to secure a spot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}