K-pop star Sistar. (Image Ynhap)
CHANGWON, Oct. 30 (Yonhap) – Dozens of young people from 14 countries will compete in their ability to reproduce or reinvent K-pop acts in later Friday, organizers said.
Only 57 out of some 12,000 contestants made it to the K-pop World Festival finals set to start at 7 p.m. at the Changwon Sports Park in the southeastern industrial city of Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, they said.
K-pop star AOA. (Image : Yonhap)
Two preliminaries preceded the finals and brought more than 4,000 teams down to 14.
The finalists come from countries as diverse as Australia, Malaysia, Finland, Nigeria and more. They arrived in South Korea last Friday and spent a week experiencing traditional Korean culture and meeting K-pop stars.
K-pop star EXID. (Image : Yonhap)
Later Friday, they will perform songs by idol groups such as Kara, VIXX, EXID and Sistar, with some of these groups actually gracing the stage themselves later. The line-up includes SHINEE, 4Minute, EXID, VIXX, AOA and Red Velvet, according to organizers.
Performances in Changwon will be broadcast live on KBS’s mobile app KBS myK, Navercast and YouTube, with the edited version airing on KBS World in November.
K-pop star SHINEE. (Image : Yonhap)
The behind-the-scenes of the finals will air separately on KBS 2TV next month.
The event is co-hosted by the Foreign Ministry, public broadcaster KBS, the Changwon municipal government and the Korean Culture and Information Service.
(Yonhap)
