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| The poster for "KCON 2022 SAUDI ARABIA" / Courtesy of CJ ENM |
By Dong Sun-hwa
CJ ENM, a leading entertainment and media company, will hold its "KCON" Korean culture festival in Saudi Arabia for the first time this month, the company said Sunday. The "KCON 2022 SAUDI ARABIA" will take place at Boulevard Riyadh City, which is known as the largest entertainment complex in the capital of Saudi Arabia, from Sept. 30 to Oct. 1 (local time).
"Saudi Arabia is a young country where a half of the population is under 30 years old, and K-pop is highly popular online particularly among young people," CJ ENM said in a statement.
"It recently announced Saudi Vision 2030 ― an economic and social reform plan made for its economic diversification ― and Korea is one of its partners. Geographically, it connects Asia, Africa and Europe. So we decided to hold KCON in Saudi Arabia, believing Korean culture might be able to expand beyond the region with its organization."
High-profile K-pop acts including ATEEZ, New Jeans, ONEUS, P1Harmony, STAYC and THE BOYZ will join the upcoming event as performers.
"Over the past 10 years, KCON has played a pivotal role in globalizing Korean culture in the U.S. and Japan, the countries with the largest entertainment markets," a CJ ENM official said. "Now, we will strive to broaden its horizons further to Middle East and Europe."
Launched in 2012, KCON is the world's largest K-pop and culture convention. It took place in Los Angeles in August and was also livestreamed online, attracting more than 700 million people.
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