K-pop’s BTS comeback tour rallies South Korea’s global ‘soft power’ drive

Seoul – Shekinah Yawra had nary different enactment but to walk the nighttime astatine a South Korean jjimjilbang, a 24-hour bathhouse, aft each edifice adjacent cardinal Seoul sold retired successful precocious March.

But slumber was secondary for the 32-year-old Filipino who had made her mode to Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square astatine 7am to unafraid a spot successful a assemblage that metropolis officials estimated would turn to hundreds of thousands.

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All this was for a glimpse astatine the seven-member K-pop supergroup BTS, who returned to the signifier connected March 21 aft astir 4 years distant from the limelight for their staggered, mandatory subject service.

Though she failed to unafraid 1 of 22,000 escaped tickets for BTS’s archetypal instrumentality performance successful the square, Yawra was inactive ecstatic to basal connected the sidelines and ticker the performance unrecorded connected a large surface acceptable up for the occasion.

“We each came conscionable for this,” she told Al Jazeera, recounting however friends had flown successful from the Philippines for a azygous nighttime to drawback the concert.

Worldwide, much than 18.4 cardinal viewers tuned successful for the Netflix livestream of the concert.

Kpop radical BTS execute during ‘BTS The Comeback Live Arirang’ performance successful cardinal Seoul, South Korea, March 21, 2026 [Kim Hong-ji/Pool/Reuters]

With an estimated 30 cardinal fans worldwide – who notation to themselves arsenic the BTS ARMY – the K-pop radical is the astir disposable awesome of “Hallyu”, oregon the “Korean Wave”, and the planetary surge of involvement successful South Korean fashionable civilization and the fiscal revenues being generated arsenic a result.

In precocious March, BTS’s 10th workplace album, Arirang, topped the charts successful the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom, the world’s 3 largest euphony markets. The group’s upcoming satellite circuit is expected to generate much than $1.4bn successful gross crossed much than 80 shows successful 23 countries.

Domestically, inbound tourer numbers for the archetypal 18 days of March roseate 32.7 percent from the erstwhile month, according to Ministry of Justice data, arsenic the instrumentality performance approached and edifice prices surged crossed cardinal Seoul amid the request for rooms.

In the week starring up to the concert, income of BTS merchandise – from BTS glow sticks to blankets – surged 430 percent astatine the Shinsegae Duty Free retail outlet successful cardinal Seoul, the institution said.

Over the performance weekend, revenues besides roseate 30 percent astatine the city’s Lotte Department Store and 48 percent astatine Shinsegae overall, compared with the aforesaid March play a twelvemonth earlier, successful 2025.

Fans cheer earlier the BTS The Comeback Live Arirang performance arsenic they hold adjacent the performance venue, successful cardinal Seoul, South Korea, connected March 21, 2026 [Kim Hong-ji/Reuters]

As acold backmost arsenic 2022, the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute (KCTI) – a government-sponsored deliberation vessel and probe organisation – estimated that a azygous BTS performance successful Seoul could make up to 1.2 trillion won ($798m) successful wide economical impact.

KCTI researcher Yang Ji-hoon told Al Jazeera that a illustration survey of the assemblage astatine the BTS comeback lawsuit astatine Gwanghwamun Square highlighted the uniqueness of fandom-driven tourism. More than fractional of those astatine the performance were overseas visitors and galore required long-haul question to attend.

“In Europe and the United States, question tends to beryllium concentrated wrong its ain regions,” Yang said.

“So, for radical to flooded specified question barriers and travel to South Korea, it usually requires much than conscionable mean information oregon emblematic spending – it’s not thing that happens easily,” helium said.

K-pop’s modulation to the planetary mainstream

The standard of BTS’s instrumentality to the amusement satellite reflects a broader state-backed strategy.

When euphony promoter Hybe requested Seoul metropolis enactment for the Gwanghwamun quadrate comeback concert, authorities approved it connected public-interest grounds, treating the lawsuit arsenic a showcase of nationalist taste influence.

Almost befitting an authoritative event, much than 10,000 authorities unit were deployed for security, logistics and assemblage control.

According to information retrieved by South Korean work Sisain, through a nationalist accusation disclosure petition to the Seoul government, adjacent to 130 cardinal won ($87,400) of metropolis funds were spent arsenic portion of logistics for the comeback concert.

South Korean authorities enactment for BTS has a precedent.

As members of the boyband approached South Korea’s mandatory subject work age, policymakers debated peculiar exemptions for members of BTS, which was estimated to person generated $4.65bn annually to the country’s economy.

After BTS’s forthcoming concerts successful Mexico City sold retired successful conscionable 37 minutes, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum urged South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung to “bring the acclaimed K-pop artists much often”, noting astir 1 cardinal fans successful Mexico had attempted to unafraid 150,000 tickets.

South Korea’s taste power is besides extending beyond music.

South Korea’s cosmetics exports surpassed $11bn past year, according to planetary accountancy steadfast PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), overtaking France successful cosmetics shipments to the US, portion South Korean nutrient and cultivation exports reached a grounds $13.6bn, according to information from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

KCTI researcher Yang described the increasing involvement arsenic a signifier of “transition to the planetary mainstream”, wherever South Korean products are internationally recognised and contented output is measured against worldwide benchmarks specified arsenic the Billboard charts and the Academy Awards.

He besides warned that structural betterment is present indispensable to support gait with the question of involvement successful South Korea.

“As the industries grow successful scale, they indispensable besides germinate successful its underlying systems, infrastructure, and workforce,” helium said.

“Rather than focusing solely connected nonstop fiscal support, aboriginal governmental policies should determination toward strengthening foundational conditions – specified arsenic improving labour environments, addressing unfair practices, gathering applicable infrastructure, and establishing much robust statistical and information systems,” helium said.

Politicians look to beryllium paying attention.

During his predetermination run past year, President Lee framed the adjacent signifier of taste enlargement arsenic “Hallyu (Korean Wave) 4.0”, with promises to turn the assemblage into a 300 trillion won ($203bn) manufacture with 50 trillion won ($34bn) successful exports.

In enactment with this vision, the authorities acceptable the fund to bolster “K-content”, enactment the “pure” arts assemblage and fortify the wide culture-related fields astatine a grounds 9.6 trillion won ($6.5bn) — reflecting the president’s presumption of the taste assemblage arsenic a strategical nationalist manufacture alternatively than simply a user market.

South Korea’s strategy appears to beryllium paying off.

South Korea present ranks 11th globally successful “soft power”, according to Brand Finance’s Global Soft Power Index, placing the state arsenic some “influential successful arts and entertainment” and “products and brands the satellite loves”, conscionable down the US, France, the United Kingdom and Japan.

The darker broadside of K-pop: Pressure to go a cleanable idol

Amid its planetary success, the darker broadside of the K-culture manufacture has received much scrutiny.

Mega-promoter Hybe has been embroiled successful a prolonged quality with K-pop’s New Jeans, a set considered to beryllium a imaginable heir to BTS and their all-female colleagues Blackpink. The highly nationalist ineligible quality that started successful 2024 highlights manufacture tensions implicit originative power and creator autonomy.

Since the aboriginal 2000s, K-pop has besides grappled with the bequest of “slave contracts”, oregon highly restrictive agreements limiting artists’ freedom. Although reforms by the Fair Trade Commission person improved protections for performers, contractual obligations successful the K-pop manufacture are exacting connected caller performers and their strict enactment routines person agelong been documented.

From their trainee years, aspiring idols endure gruelling schedules that impact agelong workdays and small sleep.

Many apical stars often look contractual restrictions connected socialising, utilizing their phones oregon dating. They are besides typically constricted successful what they tin accidental publicly, relying connected agency-managed messaging to pass with fans and the media.

While the emergence of societal media and different online platforms has opened caller avenues for much nonstop look and enactment successful caller years, concerns implicit burnout and slump person continued to shadiness the industry, with respective high-profile stars taking their ain lives.

Beauty standards associated with the K-culture genre person besides go different flashpoint for controversy.

A 2024 study by South Korean system quality tract Uppity recovered 98 percent of 1,283 respondents calved betwixt 1980 and 2000 viewed carnal quality arsenic among the astir desirable “social capital” an idiosyncratic tin possess.

Nearly 40 percent of respondents successful the survey had undergone cosmetic procedures, portion much than 90 percent held neutral oregon affirmative attitudes regarding undergoing aesculapian procedures to heighten beauty.

According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, South Korea has the world’s highest complaint of procedures, with 8.9 per 1,000 radical compared with 5.91 per 1,000 radical successful the US and conscionable 2.13 per 1,000 successful neighbouring Japan.

Yoo Seung-chul, a prof of media studies astatine Ewha Womans University successful Seoul, said that K-culture has reinforced the normalising of quality arsenic a important metric of idiosyncratic and societal value.

“K-culture has reinforced systems and structures astir self-expression,” Yoo told Al Jazeera.

“With the emergence of webtoons that incorporated themes similar integrative surgery, determination has been a noticeable simplification successful the stigma towards going nether the weapon among younger audiences successful their teens and aboriginal twenties,” Yoo said, explaining that fashionable integrative country platforms specified arsenic Unni person further normalised the inclination by connecting radical to clinics and reviews of these clinics and their surgeons.

At the aforesaid time, globalisation has reshaped the K-culture manufacture itself. Many caller K-pop acts present see planetary members to broaden appeal.

Hybe has expanded this strategy done its US subsidiary, Hybe America, producing globally oriented groups similar Katseye, which lone has 1 South Korean subordinate successful its six-member miss group.

The displacement has prompted debate.

Even BTS’s latest medium Arirang – a motion to South Korea’s astir iconic people opus – has divided fans implicit its usage of English lyrics and overseas producers.

“K-content is being designed with planetary audiences successful caput from the outset. In film, determination has been a noticeable emergence successful genres similar fearfulness and subject fiction, which are easier to export internationally,” Yoo said.

“This planetary predisposition is besides reflected successful K-pop agencies recruiting overseas members for idol groups,” helium said.

But planetary audiences bash not ever similar highly globalised versions of Korean content, Yoo said, adding, successful fact, that galore are drawn to K-pop’s “sense of locality”.

As audiences progressively question authenticity, Yoo argues the manufacture faces a defining challenge.

“Industries and companies request to fig retired however to sphere a consciousness of section individuality portion efficaciously selling to planetary audiences,” Yoo added.

“Striking that equilibrium volition beryllium important successful shaping the adjacent signifier of Korea’s taste exports.”