Meet Hallyu Con, the UK’s biggest Korean event, bringing together K-music, fashion and beauty through expert panels and community effort.
Another year and another great year for Korean events in London; with more and more events coming to London representing South Korean culture, none have become more important than Hallyu Con.
Hosted at the iconic Samsung KX Centre on September 22. The community event was founded by the Korean Wave community in 2020 and consists of Radio Kimchi UK, The K-Way, BTS Armation, and My Wave Collective. The event is united by one common goal: hosting one event that brings all aspects of South Korean culture to the UK.
Previously known for having big stages, including the likes of GSoul in 2023 and H1-KEY and Busters in 2022. 2024 promised to be even bigger with the announcement of London-based Korean star Sungjoon, alongside Korean musician Heyne all the way from Jeju Island. Paired with the sponsorship deals of established Korean brands Milkis UK, Pureseoul, Yori, Chatime and Life4Cuts, this year, Hallyu Con promised to be the event’s biggest and most well-rounded K-culture event.
Spread across the Samsung KX Centre, each sponsor had the opportunity to showcase their work, providing guests with a new and unique perspective of Korean culture.
First of the stalls was London-based Korean photobooth store Life4Cuts, featuring a range of classic commonly associated accessories such as headbands and hats beside a vintage wooden Polaroid camera and pink backdrop. The booth allowed attendees to take photos with friends and gain photo strips.
Centred alongside the entrance was the K-beauty section, featuring all the latest and greatest skincare products from PureSeoul and the modern and contemporary Hanbok provided by London Hanbok. The stall featured experts who provided knowledge of Hanbok’s history and assisted fitting.
Both stalls would have the opportunity to further provide knowledge on K-beauty through a live demonstration, expert talk from PureSeoul’s make-up artist Kelly Shin, and speeches on the role of K-beauty in the Hallyu Wave.
Other stations included K-pop Dreams, a K-pop merchandise store selling albums, lightsticks and magazines. Food and drinks were available through Yori, Chatime and Milkis. K-culture stalls through the form of calligrapher Kil-Chan Lee from Hangeul Calligraphy London filed the rest of the arena. Whose stall allowed attendees to take their piece of Hangeul in the form of handwritten bookmarks.
The event’s other cultural stand came from the Korea Travel Organisation (KTO), which focused on providing attendees with the latest travel trips to South Korea, answering any questions, and providing travel destinations from across the country.
Speaking on the organisation’s primary objective, KTO Marketing Manager Ruby James stated, ‘Our objective is to promote Korea as a travel destination, spread awareness and get as many people to travel to Korea on holiday as possible.’ As well as how Hallyu ‘enhance the popularity of Korean culture in the UK and get people to take that extra step and travel to Korea’.
Main stage:
Besides the stalls, fans were also treated to a series of events on the main stage.
Kicked off by Co-Owner and Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK) Korean Representative Shai, the event started with traditional games organised by the KCCUK where winners could get prizes such as albums from BTS and SEVENTEEN. Attendees would shortly hear from one of the organisation’s directors, who informed all attendees about the centre’s upcoming events in their busiest season.
Next, everyone would be treated to the event’s first talk as Hanbok Wave UK founders Becky Lee Smith and Mikey Espinosa would take the stage to discuss the importance of Hanbok’s tradition and accessibility.
The pair talked about the impact that the Hallyu Wave has had on the growth of Hanbok, with Becky stating, “Me and Mikey launched Hanbok Wave UK because we saw a gap in the market with the rise of Hallyu in the West through K-pop and K-dramas and we believed the only thing missing was Hanbok which is an integral part of South Korean culture.” The pair also expressed their ambitions to create an environment “where people can try on hanbok and make it accessible to where hopefully we can achieve funding and make it an important part of South Korean culture as well.”
Following the talk, we would have our first live performance as traditional Korean Dancer Yerin Lee would take the stage performing fan dance. The performance would shortly be followed by musician and magic duo Ji-Eun Jung and Yollin Lee, whose card tricks to the beat of the Gayageum enthralled attendees in a breathtaking performance.
After exiting the stage, the audience would have the opportunity to soak in the beauty of the Gayageum as KAYA band leader Jung performed her solo, including the famous song “Arirang“. Following this, dancer Yerin Lee would once again take the stage with a dramatic dual sword dance that left the crowd speechless.
After these performances, attendees could hear from the event’s sponsors and experts from TV, travel, journalism, and social media through a series of panels. Looking to provide attendees with the opportunity to learn more about their chosen field of expertise.
After the panels and a short break, the audience would be treated to live music, first, through the form of singer-songwriter Sungjoon, famous for his performances busking in London’s Leicester Square. He would treat the audience to a mixture of covers and original songs, first with his original song “You” before moving on to his most popular covers of “Creep” by Radiohead and an emotional performance of “Beautiful” by Crush before finishing with a sneak peek of his upcoming release.
The event’s second performance would see Jeju musician and composer Heyne light up the stage with her infectious energy and soft vocals, performing original songs “My Heart“, “Tasty Tasty Tasty“, and “Insomnia“. The songs were quickly followed by a Q&A session where the singer opened up about her career as an indie musician, living in Jeju and her experience in London so far before urging the crowd to come and visit Jeju and giving some event recommendations.
Moving forward, the event’s organisers hope to continue the event’s growth and attract a wide range of attendees. BTS Armnation founder and Hallyu Con events member Enny would say, “I want even popular artists. Like, for instance, we were able to have GSoul last year, which was really amazing. And I feel like our current goal is to, you know, have access to more artists and bring them over. Because while obviously you always have the main organisations like KCon, they just focus on K pop, while here at Hallyu Con, we focus on the traditional aspects, we focus on the culture, we focus on the people, don’t just stick to one thing and we want to give them a reason to attend Hallyu Con.”
A huge thank you to the Hallyu Con team for organising such an incredible event and for the incredible opportunity to attend.
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