The City Council Friday declared Aug. 1 as \u201cKCON Day\u201d in honor of KCON LA 2025, a three-day festival celebrating Korean pop culture through K-pop concerts, fan events and cultural exhibitions at the Los Angeles Convention Center.<\/p>\n
Now in its 13th year, KCON has become one of the largest global events dedicated to Korean entertainment and lifestyle. Since its founding in 2012, the festival has drawn millions of fans to Los Angeles each year, solidifying the city\u2019s role as the event\u2019s longtime home.<\/p>\n
Councilmembers Katy Yaroslavsky, Curren Price and John Lee led a presentation Friday with organizers from KCON USA. The three-day event is scheduled for Aug. 1-3.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than a decade ago, KCON has grown into a global phenomenon, and no city embraces it quite like LA,\u201d Yaroslavsky said.<\/p>\n
In 2024, more than 5.9 million fans from more than 170 countries took part in the celebration in Los Angeles. Officials say they expect even higher attendance this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cKCON is more than a festival. It\u2019s a celebration of identity, connection and joy,\u201d Yaroslavsky said.<\/p>\n
Lee and Price emphasized that the event boosts the local economy by attracting international and national visitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe economic impact of KCON and the global K-pop movement cannot be overstated,\u201d Price said. \u201cIt\u2019s a cultural exchange \u2014 an economic driver and a cultural reflection of Los Angeles\u2019 international reach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doane Liu, executive director of the city\u2019s Tourism Department, said they\u2019re proud to host KCON \u2014 or as he calls it, \u201cK-Chella.\u201d He noted the Convention Center hosts nearly 300 events annually, but KCON stands out because it returns to Los Angeles every year, unlike most major conventions that rotate locations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look forward to hosting KCON every year in the future too, and we\u2019re working very closely with KCON to make sure that\u2019s in ink,\u201d Liu added.<\/p>\n
Consulate General Kim Young Wan of the Republic of Korea in Los Angeles joined the elected officials for the ceremony.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour recognition of KCON has special meaning, not only to Koreans and to Angelenos, but also worldwide fans of all ages and all different backgrounds and all ethnicities,\u201d Young Wan said.<\/p>\n
Pious Jung, CEO of CJ America \u2014 the parent company of KCON USA \u2014 thanked the city for the recognition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an acknowledgement that is incredibly meaningful to all of us at CJ,\u201d Jung said. \u201cKCON\u2019s growth and success would not have been possible without your unwavering support.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that the event began in 2012 with a dream to share Korean pop culture with a global audience.<\/p>\n
\u201cBack then, K-pop wasn\u2019t mainstream, and there was uncertainty,\u201d Jung said. \u201cCould Korean pop culture truly resonate with the global audiences? But on October 13, many years ago, seeing thousands of fans from around the world singing in Korean, we knew we had something special.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur vision is to make KCON a global cultural landmark and a proudly L.A.-grown export that continues to inspire, generate jobs, stimulate the local economy and bring people together through the power of Korean culture,\u201d Jung added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The City Council Friday declared Aug. 1 as \u201cKCON Day\u201d in honor of KCON LA 2025, a three-day…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2451,6283,392,2385,70555,4084,70235,45402,70556,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-111019","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-city","11":"tag-council","12":"tag-culture","13":"tag-day","14":"tag-declares","15":"tag-festival","16":"tag-kcon","17":"tag-kicks","18":"tag-korean","19":"tag-la","20":"tag-los-angeles","21":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114955117081857938","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}