“Song Festival” will be held in Japan? KBS responds to opposition petition “Expand to Global Festival”
KBS responded to the petition against holding the “Song Festival” in Japan.
On July 19th, the KBS Production 2 Headquarters Entertainment Center (hereinafter referred to as the Entertainment Center) responded to the petition titled “Opposition to KBS Song Festival in Japan” posted on the viewer petition board of the KBS Viewer Center.
The Entertainment Center said, “Thank you for your deep interest and concern for this petition. KBS is doing our best to contribute to the spread of K-POP Hallyu and introduce new Hallyu stars through ‘Music Bank’ and ‘Music Bank World Tour’. Now, K-POP has gone beyond Korean popular music and become music enjoyed by fans all over the world.”
They continued, “Especially in 2023, as overseas K-pop concerts, which had been blocked due to the pandemic of the past few years, became possible, requests from global fans who want to see Korean singers in person are explosively increasing. In order to fulfill this, KBS is continuously planning ‘Music Bank World Tour’ in Mexico and Japan in the second half of this year.”
The Entertainment Center confessed, “We are also considering expanding the existing ‘KBS Song Festival’ to ‘Music Bank World Tour-Global Festival (tentative title)’ targeting people around the world and holding it both at home and abroad. Hereby, we will be able to provide a richer K-POP program for domestic fans while informing the world of the excellence and impact of our culture.”
At the same time, they asked for viewers’ interest, saying, “KBS will continue to harmonize with domestic and foreign fans through various K-POP stages.”
Earlier, a media outlet reported that the “2023 KBS Song Festival” will be held at the Belluna Dome in Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan on December 9th.
After that, one viewer left a petition post on the viewer petition board of the KBS Viewer Center on June 19th. This viewer wrote, “Isn’t KBS a public broadcasting station? I can’t understand why they would choose to hold the year-end stage in Japan. I urge them to withdraw this decision right away.”
In this regard, KBS stated, “It is true that we have considered holding the 2023 Song Festival in Japan as part of the ‘Music Bank’ world tour, but nothing has been confirmed yet.”
Meanwhile, the “Song Festival” is a festival where K-pop singers who have been active throughout the year gather together to wrap up the year. It has never been held overseas.
Source: Naver
