The world’s No.1 K-culture festival, KCON LA 2023, presented by Samsung Galaxy, successfully wrapped up in Downtown Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Convention Center and Crypto.com Arena with around 140,000 fans.
Also, 5.9M viewers from 176 regions have tuned in for the event livestream. For the 11th year since launching in 2012, KCON celebrated Korean pop culture and entertainment at the world’s largest event.
The Ultimate K-culture Convention Experience
Created by leading entertainment company CJ ENM, KCON is the ultimate destination for everything K-culture.
The 2023 installment upgraded its experiential content and space design, offering an enhanced KCON experience and encapsulating the true meaning of its theme, “Be a KCONer.”
This weekend, K-culture fans all over the world were able to visit 278 convention floor booths and participate in 153 convention programs.
These included KCON STAGE, PANEL&WORKSHOP, Dance All Day, KCON SQUARE, and more. The SHOWCASE: NICE TO MEET U also brought on stage up-and-coming K-POP acts 8TURN, CRAXY, JUST B, LIMELIGHT, RIIZE, VERIVERY, and XG.
Additionally, KCONers could experience firsthand a variety of Korean brands.
This year’s title sponsor, Samsung Galaxy, operated a zone where attendees could try out their latest products, Galaxy Z Flip5 and Galaxy Z Fold5, and showcased content created in collaboration with K-POP stars.
Korea’s No.1 Health and beauty store, Olive Young, held a booth centred around K-lifestyle.
At the same time, CJ Live Studio featured CJ-affiliate programs such as Tous Les Jour, Olive Young, and CJ-Unesco girls’ education campaign alongside artist sessions.
Also, “Jinny’s Kitchen,” which aired on CJ ENM’s K-content channel tvN and is available on Amazon Prime Video, operated a booth designed to replicate the actual restaurant and offered attendees the chance to become a member of the show crew.
Nah Yung Suk, the producer of “Jinny’s Kitchen,” also took the time to visit the booth, engaging with fans and sharing the growing love for K-variety shows around the world.
Just like previous years, KCON LA 2023 partnered with ‘The Korea Foundation for Cooperation of Large & Small Business, Rural Affairs’ to bring 50 small businesses spanning beauty, consumer goods and food under the name “K-COLLECTION,” laying the foundation for brands to be introduced in the U.S. market.
KCON’s Unprecedented 3-Day SHOW that Brought 21 K-POP Acts
For the first time, KCON hosted three full nights of SHOW. Night one featured performances from CRAVITY, IVE, NMIXX, SHOWNU & HYUNGWON (MONSTA X), TAEMIN, TAEYONG, and WayV.
Night two showcased ATEEZ, INI, Kep1er, RAIN, XG, xikers, and ZEROBASEONE.
Lastly, night three included EVERGLOW, (G)I-DLE, ITZY, JO1, Lapillus, Stray Kids, and THE BOYZ.
KCON LA 2023 also brought back the fan favourite DREAM STAGE, where fans auditioned in dance contests at the DANCE ALL DAY area at the convention to win a chance to perform with ITZY, IVE and ZEROBASEONE at the SHOW.
New this year, KCON partnered with iHeartRadio’s KIIS FM to bring the first-ever “K-POP VILLAGE” to the convention center, accessible to the general public.
On Saturday, KIIS-FM welcomed performing artists, including NOTD, Tkay, Benson Boone, and LEO. ATEEZ, Kep1er, XG, and xikers made special appearances.
Joon-beom Sim, Head of Music Entertainment, CJ ENM, said, “It was refreshing to see the audience of such diversity enjoying K-culture with friends and family. We will continue to create more opportunities so that more people worldwide can experience K-POP and K-culture through KCON.”
KCON LA is an annual multi-day event in Downtown Los Angeles consisting of three full days of convention activities, including workshops, panels, and more, followed by musical performances from top K-pop artists each night. More information on the event can be found at www.kconusa.com.
About CJ ENM
CJ ENM is a leading entertainment company founded in Korea in 1995. CJ ENM’s Entertainment division is engaged in various industry business areas, including media content, music, film and performing arts, providing its leading original content to multiple media platforms worldwide.
CJ ENM has created, produced and distributed acclaimed content, including the Oscar-winning film “Parasite,” the Tony Award-winning musical “Kinky Boots,” record-breaking Korean films including “Roaring Currents” and TV series such as “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God globally,” “I Can See Your Voice” and more.
United under the slogan “We live to discover Untold Originals,” CJ ENM has three major production and distribution studios: drama production powerhouse Studio Dragon, U.S.-based studio Fifth Season and K-OTT content production studio CJ ENM STUDIOS. CJ ENM also presents KCON, the world’s No.1 K-Culture festival, and MAMA AWARDS, the world’s No.1 K-POP awards, to bring K-culture experiences to people worldwide.
To learn more about CJ ENM, please visit http://www.cjenm.com.
About KCON USA
KCON USA (kconusa.com) is the largest fan festival in North America, celebrating Korean culture and music.
The convention launched in 2012 with over 10,000 fans attending and has more than doubled annually since then, reaching over 158,000 fans in 2019.
KCON is now established in Los Angeles as the annual flagship event for American fans of Hallyu and Asian pop culture, providing the largest forum for fans to directly connect with artists and professionals from the Korean entertainment industry.
2017, the brand expanded internationally, presenting KCON in Mexico and Australia and returning to Japan. KCON has also held events in France, UAE and Thailand.
