Korea and the Philippines will hold the 2019 K-Pop Friendship Concert at the Mall of Asia Arena in the Philippine capital, today, as an opening ceremony for the 70th anniversary celebration of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
The concert will feature top K-pop groups such as boy band NCT Dream, a seven-member subgroup under NCT; girl group APRIL; and NOIR, a boy group with nine members under LUK Factory. Silent Sanctuary, a five-piece Filipino rock band, will also take part in the concert.
Filipino fans showed high expectations, leaving comments in Korean saying “thank you for holding the concert,” and “I really want to go to the concert,” at the official social media event account. At the second ticket release, 700 tickets, free to fans and the public, were scooped up within a minute.
The event, organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, was specified in December 2018, after the Korean culture ministry and both countries’ art councils signed an MOU to hold concerts in each country consecutively.
The culture ministry offers diverse programs including a taekwondo festival, a Korean culture and tourism exhibition, a film festival and arts and crafts exhibition in the Philippines this year, while the Philippine Art Council plans to promote “Days of Philippine Culture” in Korea.
“We hope this event can strengthen diplomatic relations throughout this year, and expand the scale of cultural exchanges between the two countries,” Vice Culture Minister Kim Yong-sam said in a statement.
Another Friendship Concert will be held in Myanmar’s Yangon on March 16 with performances by Boyfriend, APRIL and Rose Quartz, a four-girl group of three different nationalities, reflecting the increasing popularity of K-pop there.
Source: The Korea Times
