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ASEAN-Korea Centre to host K-pop, V-pop concert to promote exchanges

Published: 31 Oct. 2025, 12:45 Updated: 31 Oct. 2025, 12:59

SEO JI-EUN
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A poster for the 2025 ASEAN-Korea Music Concert [ASEAN-KOREA CENTRE]

The ASEAN-Korea Centre will host a K-pop and V-pop concert in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday to promote cultural exchanges in Vietnam's largest city.

Titled "2025 ASEAN-Korea Music Concert: Going Together in Viet Nam," the event will take place at the Military Zone 7 Indoor Sports Complex. Co-organized with the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange and the SILKROAD C&T, the concert marks the first large-scale cultural exchange event by the center, jointly run by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and Korea, that brings together both public and private partners.

The lineup of Korean artists includes the multinational girl group Kep1er, the boy group AHOF — which features a Filipino member — and Na Tae-joo, known for pioneering the “Taekwon Trot” genre. Vietnamese singers Min and Duc Phuc will also join the stage. Sooyoung of Girls’ Generation and Vietnamese television announcer Manh Cuong will serve as co-hosts.

Organized as a charity event, all proceeds from the concert will be donated to the Viet Nam Red Cross Society and its Ho Chi Minh City chapter to support underprivileged children and youth.

The event comes amid growing interest in K-pop and Korean culture across Southeast Asia. In 2024, Korea ranked first among Asean member states in terms of foreign visitors to Vietnam, with approximately 4.5 million travelers, while Vietnam ranked second among Asean visitors to Korea, with about 500,000 visitors.

“With the Asean-Korea relationship being elevated to a 'Comprehensive Strategic Partnership' in 2024, which has significantly broadened the horizons for cooperation, I am very pleased to hold this concert in Vietnam, a key partner for Korea in culture and tourism,” said ASEAN-Korea Centre Secretary-General Kim Jae-shin. “I expect that this concert will serve as a precious platform for enhancing an understanding of each other’s mass culture and reaffirming the bonds of friendship between the people of Asean and Korea through the medium of K-pop and V-pop.”

BY SEO JI-EUN [[email protected]]