▲ Sasajima Nao (left) and Kobayashi Saya hold up merchandise at KCON Japan, held at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan, on May 9, 2025. (Yonhap)

 

TOKYO, May 12 (Yonhap) -- CJ ENM’s global K-pop festival “KCON” has officially surpassed 2 million cumulative offline attendees, following the opening night of KCON Japan 2025 held at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, near Tokyo, on Sunday.

 

Park Chan-wook, Head of CJ ENM’s Convention Business Division and the chief producer of KCON, remarked in a press briefing on the final day of the three-day event, “Thirteen years ago, our audience numbered just 10,000. Now, KCON draws over 100,000 attendees per event. It has grown into the premier festival for introducing Korean culture worldwide.”

 

▲ Park Chan-wook, head of CJ ENM’s convention business division, briefs the press on KCON Japan 2025 at Makuhari Messe near Tokyo, Japan, on May 11, 2025, in this photo provided by the ministry. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

A major contributor to this growth has been KCON Japan, which has been held annually since 2015, except during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. “Japan has the second-largest music market in the world after the United States and is also the largest consumer of K-pop content,” said Park. “Following last year’s 140,000 attendees, this year’s KCON Japan again surpassed 100,000, reaffirming the importance of this market.”

 

CJ ENM aims to use this strong interest in K-pop as a springboard to promote broader aspects of Korean culture — including K-food, K-beauty, and K-dramas. To this end, the festival featured a dedicated convention space near the concert venue, showcasing a variety of Korean cultural content.

 

“The K-food section featured Korea’s ‘Big Four’ — CJ CheilJedang, Nongshim, Samyang, and Daesang — while 40 small to mid-sized Korean businesses participated in the K-beauty section, alongside Olive Young,” said Park. “This year, we also created installations like ‘school look’ photo zones to help young Japanese fans engage more easily with K-culture.”

 

The convention hall was packed with thousands of Japanese fans well before the concert began, drawing attention even from South Korea’s Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Yoo In-chon, who toured the booths for about 40 minutes. 

 

“I witnessed firsthand the overwhelming interest and passion Japanese people have for Korean culture,” Yoo stated. “This moment reflects years of consistent engagement with Japanese fans.”

 

▲ Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yoo In-chon tours booths with CJ ENM CEO Yoon Sang-hyun during the K-pop festival KCON, held at Makuhari Messe near Tokyo, Japan, on May 11, 2025, in this photo provided by the ministry. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

Opening the concert was rookie girl group Kiki, who debuted in March and made their mark with an energetic performance. Other performers included four-member girl band QWER and idol group TWS. 

 

The headline act, ZEROBASEONE, drew rapturous applause from over 30,000 attendees, many of whom rose from their seats waving lightsticks in unison as the group took the stage.

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]