Hallyu festival ‘KCON:TACT season 2’ kicks off online Thursday

The Korea Creative Content Agency and CJ ENM will host “KCON:TACT season 2,” an online affair that will kick off Thursday and continue through Oct. 25. The shows can be viewed at the Mnet K-pop and KCON official YouTube channel by purchasing a membership.

“I hope ‘KCON:TACT season 2’ sets an example for promoting stellar K-contents like games, webtoons, characters among others to the international audience,” said Park Seung-ryong, head of KOCCA’s overseas expansion department. “Despite many ways of reaching the international audience being barred because of COVID-19, we will continuously try to create ways for new Hallyu to go international.”

The festival is a follow-up to “KCON:TACT 2020 Summer,” which took place online in June. Top K-pop idols such as Monsta X, IZ*ONE, (G) I-dle, Mamamoo, ITZY and Stray Kids gave daily performances that were viewed by 4.05 million people from 153 countries.

At the upcoming festival, viewers can see the collaboration and the blending of different genres of K-content at KCON Studio. Organizers hope this will provide an opportunity for multiple genres to be shown at the festival. Projects supported by KOCCA will be the centerpiece of KCON Studio.

Performances by famous indie musicians, including Lacuna and Uza&Shane, who were chosen for KOCCA’s musician support program, will be featured in the pre-show concert. In addition, many K-pop idols will be featured, including AB6IX, ACE, Day6, IZ*ONE, KARD, Mamamoo, Sunmi, Kim Jae-hwan and Everglow.

Also, K-pop artists will collaborate with social media influencers to introduce Hallyu to international viewers. The details will be revealed starting Oct. 19.
Programs that have been prepared include YouTubers and members of K-pop idol groups playing the game Fortress together, and the performance of songs in “Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarves” in the style of pansori, or traditional Korean narrative song. Korean fashion designers will present traditional Korean clothing inspired by the Korean comic “Goong,” limited-edition merchandise featuring character Mr. Donothing will be available and K-pop idols will be there cooking K-food.

By Lim Jang-won (ljw@heraldcorp.com)