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Squid Game actors Byung Hun Lee and Yim Siwan are set to make an appearance at Kcon L.A. 2025, the festival announced Tuesday.

The pair will appear during the K-pop festival’s first night concert, branded M Countdown, on Aug. 1 to present “a memorable moment for global fans” and reflect “Kcon’s commitment to creating special connections between artists and fans,” according to a release. Yim will also visit the K-Content by Cj Enm exhibition zone of the first day of Kcon L.A. 2025 at the main festival grounds located at the L.A. Convention Center.

Yim is scheduled to attend Cj Enm’s partnership event with the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, dubbed “K-Culture Night at Academy Museum with Kcon.” The event is scheduled to be held the day before (July 31) and will also feature newly announced Paramount and Hybe K-pop project star Eric Nam, Choi Hojong, Lee Youngji,...

Amazon Music will be the exclusive streaming partner of this year’s Kcon L.A., the streaming platform announced Wednesday.

Fans in North America, South America and Europe can access the livestream through the Amazon Music channel on Prime Video and Twitch. The online stream, presented by the streamer’s K-Pop Now playlist, will include the festival’s programming, along with the nightly broadcast of the festival’s flagship M Countdown-branded concert portion.

On Monday, Cj Enm and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced “K-Culture Night at Academy Museum with Kcon,” an event to celebrate the K-pop festival’s 13th anniversary and the company’s 30th anniversary. The celebration, taking place on July 31, is being put on as part of Cj Enm’s three-year-long partnership with the Academy Museum, which was announced earlier this year.

K-Culture Night, held at the museum’s David Geffen Theater, is slated to include a slew of entertainment figures.

K-Pop Idol Hwasa Reveals 2023 Concert Scandal Impacted Her Mental Health. ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Hwasa is one of the most popular K-pop stars and receives a massive amount of love and admiration from fans across the globe. However, in 2023, she got embroiled in a controversy that left her shattered. Hwasa appeared as a guest on the latest episode of KBS2’s Crazy Rich Koreans, which premiered on July 13, 2025, and opened up about the time when she faced the lowest of lows in her career.

For those unaware, back in 2023, the K-pop idol ignited a massive controversy over her s*xually suggestive performance at a university fest. The performance garnered much attention and sparked criticism from a parents’ rights group, leading to a complaint for public indecency. Hwasa was even investigated by the Seoul Seongdong Police Station. Although the charges were cleared and the case was dropped, the incident had pushed the idol into a dark phase.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Korean entertainment giant Cj Enm are partnering up to host a cultural event to celebrate Korean content.

Titled “K-Culture Night at Academy Museum with Kcon,” the event will celebrate the K-pop festival’s 13th anniversary and the company’s 30th anniversary. The celebration, taking place on July 31, is being put on as part of Cj Enm’s three-year-long partnership with the Academy Museum, which was announced earlier this year.

K-Culture Night, held at the museum’s David Geffen Theater, is slated to include a slew of entertainment figures. American-born Korean singer Eric Nam will serve as the evening’s emcee. Dancer Choi Hojong, K-pop stars Lee Youngji and P1Harmony, J-pop girl group Is:sue and Squid Game star Yim Siwan will make appearances throughout the night. All of the stars taking part in the event will be performing at Kcon in some capacity that weekend.

Nct 127, aespa, MonstaX and Key were among the latest additions to the Kcon L.A. lineup, Cj Enm announced Monday. They join Seventeen members Hoshi and Woozi (HxW), girl groups Ive and Nmixx and boy groups Zerobaseone and P1Harmony, who were among the first wave of artist slated for the festival.

Kcon, the world’s no. 1 K-pop festival, will return to downtown’s Los Angeles Convention Center and Crypto.com Arena for the three-day event, giving local K-Pop fans a chance at seeing several of their favorite acts under the same roof. Historically, the festival has held daytime programming at the convention center before shuffling ticket-holding fans across the street to the arena for nighttime concerts.

Kcon L.A. returns Aug. 1-3 in downtown Los Angeles.

This year, Kcon L.A. will feature “festival grounds” in an attempt to include more content and make the experience more immersive, according to a release.

Hwasa Handles Wardrobe Mishap ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Mamamoo’s Hwasa is known for her sass behavioral patterns. The K-pop idol is currently on her USA tour, and every stage appearance has been quite chaotic so far. From drinking cocktails on stage to saving herself from wardrobe malfunction in a hilarious way – she is all over the internet for her moments. Her fans are going gaga about her endeavors.

Recently, the idol left the stage mid-way while performing her sequence, which was quite shocking for the audience and fans. But when she returned and let everyone know about her reason why she left the stage, it left the audience even more shocked. The moment went viral on X (previously known as Twitter) and other social media platforms. Scroll ahead to know what she said.

After leaving the stage, Hwasa returned to the stage with a big smile as her audience was waiting for her to return.

Korean rapper and singer Jay Park is fresh off the release of his 20-track R&b album, The One You Wanted, something he’s been working on for years, when he jumps on a Zoom with The Hollywood Reporter.

The 37-year-old, a Seattle native, has had a lengthy career in Korean entertainment. Beginning his as a K-Pop idol, Park moved on to become a solo hip hop artist, he was the first Asian act signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label. He has since founded several entertainment companies, including More Vision, the music label he currently resides as CEO of.

The One You Wanted, which features several collaborations including Ty Dolla $ign, K-Pop icon Iu and Hwasa, has been years in the making for artist – he last released an R&b album in 2016 and has been working to finish his recent album since then. Park says people identify him as different things,...

The 2024 Mama Awards are coming soon!

The K-pop awards ceremony will kick off in the United States for the first time in its history before taking place in Japan in November.

The album/song eligibility period runs from October 1 2023 through September 30, 2024. The albums, songs and artists are assessed based on a holistic evaluation of global music data and a panel of specialists.

This year, there’s also a new category: Best Choreography.

This year’s ceremony, presented by Visa, will kick off at the Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on November 21, and will be held at the Kyocera Dome Osaka in Japan over two days from November 22 to 23. The show will also be broadcast worldwide including global digital platforms.

Tickets go on sale Friday, October 22 at 4 p.m. via Ticketmaster.

Keep reading to see the nominations…

2024 Mama Awards Nominations

Best New Male Artist

82Major

All(H)Ours...

Welcome to our weekly rundown of the best new music — featuring big singles, key tracks from our favorite albums, and more. This week, Yola goes in on an ex-to-be over some synth-heavy R&b, Gwen Stefani swerves into country, Future delivers a boomin’-on-Pluto highlight from his latest mixtape, and Bad Bunny offers hope after tragedy. Plus, the return of Bon Iver, St. Vincent debuts her new Spanish-language project, and Graham Parker pays tribute to Jesse Malin.

Yola, “Future Enemies” (YouTube)

Bad Bunny, “Una Velita” (YouTube)

Haley Hendrickx, “Foxglove” (YouTube)

Father John Misty,...

One year ago, Tablo wasn’t sure if there would be another Epik High album. By that point, the Korean hip-hop trio – which also includes co-lyricist Mithra Jin and co-producer DJ Tukutz – had already been together for 21 years, and were concentrating on the release of Epik High Is Here下 (Part 2), the second half of their 10th studio album. Rumors circulated about the group’s possible disbandment, fueled by the members’ own ambiguous comments.

And then, a month ago, Tablo released a humorous video announcing Epik High’s 2023 European and North American tour,...

Dua Lipa has stepped back into the K-pop world once again, this time joining forces with Mamamoo fame Hwasa for the remix of her 'Physical' track which released today.

'Physical' was originally released back in January, as a pre-release single from her upcoming album 'Future Nostalgia'.

Also Read:?Jared Leto shares heartfelt message to his fans

The newly released remix featuring HwaSa from the Korean girl band Mamamoo brings even more power to the ?80s-inspired, synth-dance track' showcasing her unique voice through her Korean lyrics.

Taking to Twitter, Hwasa teased her collaboration with Dua Lipa for the remix song. She further revealed the release date of the song which is today.

'Future Nostalgia' is the British singer?s second forthcoming studio album and is scheduled to release on April 3.

This is not the first time when Dua Lipa has united with a K-Pop artist. Previously, she has teamed up with...