(Yonhap Interview) South Africa's top envoy hopes BTS will perform in her country on world tour
SEOUL, Feb. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Africa's top envoy has expressed hope that K-pop supergroup BTS will visit her country to perform as part of its world tour, saying it will be her "big assignment" to make it happen.
Ambassador Sindiswa Mququ made the remarks in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Wednesday, as she highlighted cultural exchanges as a vital component of bilateral relations with South Korea and noted that Korean pop culture content has been well received in her homeland.
"South Africa is a recipient of what you're exporting, in terms of K-pop, K-drama and K-culture broadly," Mququ said. "K-culture, or 'K-everything' that is offering, sends a very important message that you're communicating and that we're working collaboratively."
"I know that South Africans want (BTS to come)," she said. "I have a big assignment now, and I'm also appealing to you if you have connections to BTS, because they want BTS to go to South Africa."
BTS' upcoming "Arirang" world tour is set to kick off April 9 in South Korea and span 34 cities around the world, including Tokyo, Mexico City, Madrid, London and others. South Africa is not currently included in the list.
"I must get hold of BTS managers to say we need you in South Africa," Mququ quipped, adding that she hopes to be invited herself at Gwanghwamun Square, where BTS is scheduled to hold a comeback concert next month in celebration of its new album's release.
"I hope that we'll be invited there," she said.
As part of such cultural exchanges, the ambassador unveiled plans to invite South African artists to her host country next year, as South Korea and South Africa are set to mark the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. One of the potential candidates is Pretty Yende, a world-famous South African soprano, Mququ said.
"That is our start. We hope to bring musicians from South Africa and collaborate with them," she said.
On bilateral relations with South Korea, the ambassador hoped that South Korean companies will make more investments in a way where their operations will be localized to support industrial development.
"We would like to see more of this innovation transferred to South Africa through industrial development," she said.
She cited the critical minerals sector as an area that could drive growth by creating added value, including through job creation. South Africa is the world's largest producer of platinum, manganese and chromium.
"We are still labor-intensive," Mququ said of the country's employment base, with a particular note on the younger generations. "So this is the innovation that we hope for."
On the diplomatic front, South Africa drew attention last year with the tense Oval Office meeting between its President Cyril Ramaphosa and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in May.
The summit talks came amid strained relations between the two countries, after Trump accused South Africa of committing "genocide" against its white minority, a claim that has broadly been dismissed.
In November last year, Trump said South Africa will not be invited to the 2026 Group of 20 (G20) summit the U.S. is scheduled to host in Florida.
"We have expressed our concern and also deep regret over the bad precedent that it is setting for G20," Mququ said. "We will leave it to the rest of the members of the G20, but we remain committed to the G20, what it stands for and what it hopes to achieve."
Mququ emphasized that the G20 member states share responsibility for upholding the forum's founding principles and long-standing practices,
"The G20 is a collective, and there are established protocols and practices," she said. "We believe that those will take precedence over any other things, and therefore, the membership of the G20 will have to be accountable for that, to make sure that G20 operates the way we know it and the way it was established."
Despite lingering tensions in its relationship with Washington, Mququ said her country is "not naive" about the realities of dealing with global powers.
"We are not blind or naive to the reality that America is a big economy globally," she said. "We acknowledge that the U.S. is our strategic partner and also our second (largest) trading partner after China. We take into account all those elements as we engage with them."
elly@yna.co.kr
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