Mexico City (AFP) – Around the world, hundreds of thousands of fans of K-pop megastars BTS are nursing disappointment after failing to secure a ticket for their highly-anticipated comeback tour. But only in one country — Mexico — has the dearth of tickets become a matter for the highest office in the land.
BTS will perform three dates in Mexico City in May. The tickets, which went on sale last weekend, sold out in minutes, demonstrating the growing fervor among Mexicans for all aspects of South Korean culture, from television series to cuisine, to of course K-pop. The government has sought to cash in on the act. When it was announced that BTS would perform in Mexico, Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, a longtime fan, posted a video on TikTok in which he is seen greeting Jin, a member of the band.
Now, President Claudia Sheinbaum has gotten involved. Addressing reporters on Monday, she declared that “nearly a million young people” had vied for one of the coveted 150,000 tickets to BTS’s Mexican gigs. So moved was she by the disappointment of the unlucky many, she said she wrote to South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung to ask that he “bring the acclaimed K-pop artists more often” to her country.
Sheinbaum said she had also asked Ocesa, the promoter of the shows in Mexico, about the possibility of organizing more dates, but received a negative answer. BTS have not toured or released music since 2022 as they underwent the national military service required of all South Korean men under age 30. The band’s label announced on New Year’s Day they would release a new album in March before heading on a mega-tour the following month that will take in 34 cities.
© 2024 AFP
