CJ ENM’s KCON, a hallmark festival of K-Pop and Korean culture, has once again solidified its presence in the United States. The highly anticipated “KCON LA 2024” concluded successfully from July 26 to 28, spanning the Crypto.com Arena, LA Convention Center, and Gilbert Lindsay Plaza in Los Angeles.
This year’s event featured a comprehensive festival layout, emphasizing a multi-stage format with a diverse schedule of performances. The “M COUNTDOWN” concerts, which illuminated each night of the festival, showcased a star-studded lineup including “god,” celebrating their 25th anniversary, as well as artists such as BIBI, BOYNEXTDOOR, INI, Kep1er, P1Harmony, TAEMIN of SHINee, ENHYPEN, JO YURI, NMIXX, JEON SOMI, NCT 127, STAYC, ZEROBASEONE, and ZICO. Emerging talents like ME and TWS, who debuted this year, also graced the stage.
Additionally, popular actors from Studio Dragon’s hit dramas, including Kim Soo-hyun from “Tears of the Queen” and Park Min-young from “Marry My Husband,” held special fan meetings, adding to the excitement.
A total of 29 artist teams participated in KCON LA 2024. For the first time in KCON history, and a first for any K-Pop festival, the event was broadcast live nationwide during prime time on the CW Network.
Over the three days, the festival attracted more than 5.8 million viewers both on-site and through digital platforms from 176 countries and regions.
The “K-COLLECTION with KCON LA 2024” featured 50 small and medium-sized enterprises showcasing cosmetics, food, and other products. Olive Young introduced over 210 products from 70 domestic beauty brands. Samsung Galaxy, continuing as the title sponsor, provided a large-scale space for attendees to experience the new foldable smartphones.
LINE FRIENDS, one of the fastest-growing global character brands, also participated in KCON LA 2024 for the first time with a booth called LINE FRIENDS SQUARE. The LINE FRIENDS SQUARE booth featured a pop-up style store featuring the latest trends and popular character IPs from around the world.
“Over the three-day event, many people visited our booth, and our products were nearly sold out,” said a company representative.
Meanwhile, from July 26 to 28, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea, along with the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), conducted extensive promotional activities at the LA Convention Center in conjunction with the KCON LA 2024.
During the event, a new promotional video for Korean tourism, featuring the recently appointed 2024 Korean Tourism Honorary Ambassador, K-pop girl group “NewJeans,” was premiered and received an enthusiastic response.
At the KTO promotional booth, visitors could enjoy the promotional video and participate in various activities such as stamp card missions, quizzes, games, a Kingdom Friends pop-up store, and an AI profile Hanbok experience event, offering an indirect experience of Korean tourism.
On July 25, the KTO Los Angeles office, led by Director Jang Yoo-hyun, hosted a Korean Wave tourism showcase at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar Hotel in San Diego for mainstream travel industry professionals. With interest in Korea heightened by the active participation of Ha-seong Kim from the San Diego Padres, the first Korean tourism promotional event in San Diego saw the attendance of over 200 travel industry and airline representatives, including Korean Air and Delta, who engaged in networking to promote new Korean Wave-themed travel packages.
The event featured various Korean Wave content experiences, such as a self-photo booth popular among Generation Z and millennial, personal color diagnosis, and Korean calligraphy experiences in collaboration with the Sejong Institute.
Jinho Yoo, Director of the Tourism Content Strategy Division at the KTO, who oversaw the event, stated, “The Korean Wave tourism roadshow and KCON, held for the first time in San Diego, were opportunities to spread the charm of Korean tourism through the Korean Wave. We will strive to strengthen networking with the local travel industry and achieve our goal of attracting 20 million foreign visitors to Korea this year.”
BY YOUNGNAM KIM, NAKI PARK [kim.youngnam@koreadaily.com]
