K-pop contest returns bigger and better

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and India, a Kpop contest has been announced that will be held over a period of six months.

The Korean Cultural Centre India (KCCI), in association with LG Electronics, has launched the 0All India KPOP Contest 2023 where competition will be held in four rounds; online, regional, semi-finale and grand finale.

Delhi is going to witness the semi-finals and finals. The final round of the event will be held as a special cultural event to celebrate G 20 Summit with renowned K-Pop artist band from Korea.

The online qualifiers round was held from April 26th to May 13th in which 11,071 teams participated from Pan India, the biggest participation ever since the inception (2011) of the contest in India. The selected participants from online preliminaries will participate in the regional round to be held at 11 cities.

All-India K-Pop Contest, one of the representative events by KCCI, has been held steadily every year from 2011 to its 13th edition this year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was held online in 2021 and 2022, but this year’s contest will be held as an offline large-scale festival event again.

The promotional video of the event made by KCCI also gained a sensation as more than 4 lakh viewership was noticed on KCCI`s official SNS accounts in 5 day showing the craze of Indian youth.

In the first regional qualifier to be held in Kolkata (Mini Auditorium, Science City, Kolkata) on May 20, Chang Jae-Bok, the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea after attending the Korea-India Economic Forum and Korean product promotion event in Kolkata will give a congratulatory speech. And special performance team from Korea National Sports University will be invited from Korea for Korean practical dance and K-pop cover dance performances.

In this contest, there was a signing ceremony held between LG Electronics and Korean Cultural Centre India to put all the efforts into promoting Korea and Korean culture by producing and operating a website dedicated to the contest, and will operate the promotion & experience booth in 11 regional preliminaries and finals together with Korean Cultural Centre India.

Hwang Il-Yong, director of Korean Cultural Centre India said, “K-pop is not just Korean pop song, but has become a medium to connect people around the world. There are many young people in India also who love K-pop and are talented in it. Commemorating 50 years of Korea-India diplomatic relations, we have wanted to create a platform where Indian youth who love Korea and K-pop could stand on stage, enjoy the show, and continue to pursue their dreams. I hope all participants and audience will be able to understand, love and express freely themselves through K-Pop and our platforms.”

Jeon Hong-Ju, M.D. of LG Electronics India said, “It’s time to say that K-pop has finally made its way in India. We are extremely delighted to co-host the K-Pop Contest with Korean Cultural Centre India. We are pleased to give the youngsters a right platform to live their passion. K-pop has become a global sensation, and Indian youngsters find K-pop resonates with their generation. We are delighted that more than 10,000 teams has sent their submissions & numerous people have shown interest.”