The heat of the Korean Wave, which is blooming in India, is not unusual. Through the expanded platform after the pandemic, Korean culture has established itself as a major alternative culture in India and has gradually been growing its influence, and the ‘Korean Wave’ phenomenon is recognized as one of the major social phenomena. One of main characteristics of this Hallyu(Korean wave) phenomenon taking place in India is that it is not limited to a few specific genres and contents, but is gradually expanding to food, fashion, beauty, language and education through primary genres and contents such as K-pop and K-drama.

  Korean Cultural Centre India is conducting K-Pop events such as the All-India K-Pop Contest and K-Pop Dance Academy with a strategy to make K-Pop, the center of Hallyu, bloom more and bear fruit in this situation.   

  A total of 3,664 teams(vocal: 1,863, dance: 1,801) participated in the first online qualifier (July 16 to August 16)in the All-India K-Pop Contest 2021, where the second regional round is currently in progress. A total of 402 teams(vocal: 192, dance: 210) have been selected and are preparing for the second regional round stages. The regional qualifiers are conducted in cooperation with local organizers, mainly composed of Hallyu cultural clubs, and will be held from September 25.Sat to October 31.Sun in a total of 20 cities. The 1st Vocal and Dance Team, who placed 1st in each regional preliminaries, will participate in the finals to be held on Saturday, November 27th.

  In addition, the Korean Cultural Centre held an SNS challenge event called 'K-Insider(K 인싸) Challenge, Introduce K-Pop to friends' at the same time to induce Korean fans to participate in the event and promote K-pop fever in India. It was announced that 825 local netizens participated in the event that took place for a month until September 22, and the cumulative number of views of the entire social networking service(SNS) channels(Facebook, Instagram, Youtube) of the Cultural Centre was 36.4 lakh.

  Through the video of the event participants, you can see how passionate the participants are for K-Pop. Some participants range from the popular 'Kim Sisters' in the United States in 1950`s as 1st generation of K-Pop to 'Seo Taiji and Boys' in 1980`s and recently 'BTS'. You can look at the localized K-pop culture that locals understand and re-create, such as providing information on the history of K-pop in.

  K-Pop Dance Academy, which is being held at the same time, is held 12 times every Tuesday and Thursday(17:00-18:00) from September 14(Tue) to October 21(Thu), 2021. On the YouTube channel of This event was designed to provide an opportunity for locals to learn K-pop dance online and to encourage voluntary participation from K-pop enthusiasts. In the entire lecture, you can learn 3 K-pop dances, and it will be conducted in various configurations, such as STAYC (six-member female group), Jeon So-mi (female solo), and THE BOYZ (11-member male group).

  Choreographer Choi Yong-jun, who oversees the academy, has been the choreographer of JYP Entertainment and has experience participating in tours such as 2pm, SHINee, and GOT7. In addition, the performers will take lessons from seasons 3 to 6 of Superstar K, and based on that experience, the choreography for each part will be recorded in detail in the video. For the entire class, four instructors from the dance trainer group led by choreographer Yong-jun Choi also participate.

  Hwang Il-yong, director of Korean Cultural Centre India, said, “It seems it is a time for the interest and affection for Korea and Korean culture in India are blooming the flower. I will do my best for the seeds sown do not stop growing till bearing its fruit.” He said about his strategy to ensure that cultural promotion leads to actual performance and fruition in the cultural content industry.    

  The K-Pop Contest Regional Qualifier and K-Pop Dance Academy can be viewed on Korean Cultural Centre India's dedicated YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/koccindia).

Attachment: 1. K-pop contest event poster and Chennai preliminary video photo

        2. K-Insider Challenge event poster and video photo

        3. Dance Academy poster and video photo

        4. All-India K-Pop Contest Regional Qualifier Schedule.

4. All-India K-Pop Contest Regional Qualifier Schedule.