CHENGDU, CHINA – JANUARY 05: Lee Teuk, Ye Sung, Dong Hae and Kim Ryeo Wook of South Korean boy group Tremendous Junior attend a press convention on January 5, 2020 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province of China. (Photograph by VCG/VCG through Getty Photos)
Vcg | Visible China Group | Getty Photos
Ok-pop prospects have brightened after Seoul and Beijing signed a content material change deal, doubtlessly paving the best way for South Korean leisure to re-enter the Chinese language market.
South Korea’s nationwide broadcaster KBS on Saturday entered into a media change and cooperation enterprise settlement with Chinese language state media firm China Media Group. CMG contains state media enterprises corresponding to China Central Tv, and is immediately managed by the Chinese language Communist Social gathering.
Shares of SM Leisure rose as a lot as 8.11%, whereas JYP Leisure gained over 9.39%. YG Leisure and Hybe noticed day-high positive aspects of about 4% and three%, respectively. The shares have since pared positive aspects.
KBS stated this settlement would “promote content material exchanges throughout the board, not solely in information and sports activities, but in addition throughout tradition, together with the Chinese language launch of the ‘Music Financial institution World Tour.'” Music Financial institution is KBS’ flagship program that options Ok-pop artists once they launch new music.
KBS President Park Jang-beom stated “I feel it is significant that we have created a breakthrough that can permit the whole Korean content material business to as soon as once more make a full-fledged foray into the Chinese language market.”
This comes as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese language President Xi Jinping met through the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation, or APEC, summit, with Lee writing on Fb that the summit was “very vital in the truth that it has totally restored the Korea-China relations.”
The return of Ok-pop to China may mark a turning level within the business, after China imposed a “mushy ban” on Ok-pop content material in 2016 after South Korea deployed U.S.’ Terminal Excessive Altitude Space Protection anti-ballistic missile system, often known as THAAD, on its soil.
KBS plans to solidify its cooperation with CMG on the APEC Summit to be held in Shenzhen, China subsequent yr, the community stated.
Native media shops have additionally reported that the partnership will assist reviving the “Korea-China Music Competition,” an occasion that was held from 1999 to 2016, and noticed Peng Liyuan, the spouse of China’s President Xi Jinping performing on the pageant in 2006, in keeping with KBS.
Whereas there have been small scale Ok-pop appearances by teams, corresponding to fan conferences and particular person member appearances, concert events or large-scale actions haven’t been held on mainland China, with teams making their tour stops in Macau or Hong Kong.
In what would have been the primary time an all-Korean group held a live performance in mainland China since 2016, boy band EPEX was to carry out in Fuzhou, China, in Might, however the present was “postponed as a result of native circumstances,” in accordance to South Korean media.
Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan mixed have been amongst Ok-pop’s largest markets, regardless of the “mushy ban,” being the second largest export marketplace for music exports from South Korea when it comes to export share in 2023, in keeping with a Korea Artistic Content material Company report printed in July. They accounted for 26.1% of music exports from South Korea in 2023, amounting to $319.58 million.
Japan, South Korea’s largest export marketplace for music, had a 35.1% export share, with $429.08 million price of music exports in 2023.
Based on the 2025 Abroad Hallyu Survey printed by South Korea’s Korea Basis for Worldwide Cultural Trade, China’s favorability ranking towards South Korea stood at 73.5%, greater than the survey’s general common.
Hallyu, or the Korean Wave, refers back to the unfold of South Korean content material around the globe. The survey additionally famous that curiosity in Hallyu content material inside China has not waned regardless of the restrictions on the direct distribution of Korean content material.
“Total, Chinese language shoppers’ curiosity in and consumption of Korean cultural content material continues to develop, and there’s vital potential for Korean content material to exert even better financial and cultural affect sooner or later,” it added.
The survey additionally famous that Chinese language authorities’s latest announcement of insurance policies geared toward attracting overseas funding and easing rules are fueling expectations for the easing of the Hallyu ban.
In a report earlier this yr, Morgan Stanley had famous that the rally in Ok-pop shares was primarily as a result of investor expectations that China will open its market to Ok-pop performers.
— CNBC’s Blair Baek contributed to this report.