K-pop World Festival final to bring top performers from 6 nations to S. Korea

SEOUL, Sept. 30 (Yonhap) -- Young K-pop performers selected through intensive preliminary competitions around the world will gather in South Korea next month for the final of the 2026 K-pop World Festival, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.

The festival will be held in the southeastern city of Changwon on Oct. 18, where six teams from Peru, France, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Tanzania and Kyrgyzstan will perform alongside K-pop artists, including Click-B, ONF, Lee Mu-jin and FIFTY FIFTY.

About 1,700 teams from 54 countries took part in regional preliminaries for the final, the ministry said, adding the upcoming event will later be broadcast by local broadcaster KBS and KBS WORLD in 140 countries.

Now in its 15th year, the festival is a K-pop competition in which young people from around the world showcase their skills, the ministry said.

Participants pose for a group photo at a regional preliminary round of the K-pop World Festival in Philadelphia, in this photo provided by Seoul's foreign ministry on Sept. 30, 2026. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

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