This year's first KCON to be held in Japan in April

This year's first KCON to be held in Japan in April. January. 24, 2018 08:12. by Min Kim kimmin@donga.com.

It is easy to see Line Friends Store of NHN of Korea not to mention Style Nanda and Etude House, a South Korean fashion and cosmetics brand, in Harajuku, Tokyo. The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) has recently designated the third round of the Korean Wave as part of “2018 advancement strategy to Japan.”

Some analyze that the first and second rounds of the Korea Wave, which was led by a South Korean drama called “Winter Sonata” and K-pop idols, are now over and an autonomous third round of the Korean Wave is emerging through social media.

In this backdrop, CJ E&M announced on Tuesday that it has selected Japan a venue to host the first KCON in 2018. KCON is planning to expand the scope of convention programs and vitalize the Korean Wave industry in line with the “third round of the Korean Wave” that is spreading in everyday life such as cosmetics, food, fashion and game through social media. Digital program that target consumers in their teens and 20s will be reinforced as they take up 57 percent of the audiences. Marking its fourth anniversary, KCON is to kick off at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba, Japan, from April 13 to 15.

First launched in California, the United States in 2012, KCON has attracted 560,000 audiences in total throughout its 7-year run in North America, Asia, Middle East and Europe. with the goal of globalizing the Korean Wave. Actors including Yeon Woo-jin, Choi Woo-shik and Namgoong Min participated the Japanese KCON, which started in 2015, attracting 96,500 speculators for the past three years.