After 2-yr hiatus, All-India K-Pop Contest 2023 to begin in offline mode across India from May 20  

NEW DELHI: Korean Cultural Centre India will organize All-India K-Pop Contest 2023 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and India. The event will be held throughout pan India over a period of about six months, from the first online preliminaries to regional preliminaries in 11 cities, semi-finals, and finals at Delhi.

All-India K-Pop Contest, one of the representative events by Korean Cultural Centre India, has been held steadily every year from 2011 to its 13^th 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. In this contest, LG Electronics India is participating as the sole sponsor of the event and signed a MOU agreement with 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.

11,071 teams which is the biggest number since its beginning in 2011 participated in the online qualifiers held from April 26th to May 13^th and the promotional video of the event made by Korean Cultural Centre India got more than 4 lakh viewership on KCCI`s official SNS accounts in 5 day showing the craze of Indian youth. The participants who passed the online qualifiers will be given the chance to compete in the city closest to their residence among the 11 cities for the regional rounds.

The major cities across India where the regional qualifiers are scheduled to be held are Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Guwahati, Kolkata, Bhopal, Kohima, Lucknow and Itanagar. The regional preliminaries in 11 cities will be operated independently by local Hallyu and K-pop communities under the support of Korean Cultural Centre India. Each winner in the song and dance category selected from the regional preliminaries will participate in the semi-finals to be held in Delhi at the end of July. The 10 winners(5 vocal, 5 dance) of the semi-finals will be able to receive singing and dance training from experts through “K-Pop Academy” program. The winners of the semi-finals will advance to the finals, and the final winner will be given a visit to Korea as prize. 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.

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.

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.”

Hong Ju-Jeon, 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.”