Korean netizens recently became surprised when LE SSERAFIM announced that they will be holding a fan sign event in China.
The news quickly spread like wildfire across various social media platforms, sparking astonishment and curiosity among Korean netizens. This is because China has been busily banning the Korean Hallyu Wave over the years.
After the news that LE SSERAFIM will be holding a special fan event in China on July 9 for their first studio album 'UNFORGIVEN,' Korean netizens gathered to a popular Korean online community expressing their astonishment.
They commented, "China? did the ban get lifted?" "I thought they was a Korean content ban," "Are they able to go? I thought the event got canceled," "Can they go there? Are they going to go on the tour?" "Wow, was HYBE able to get into China?" "Fan meeting? Is this going to be online or are they attending in person?" "I guess they can't perform but can do a fan event," "Is this going to be possible?" and "I think they are going to perform in Macao."
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While tensions are still tough.....where have these particular K-netizens been? China has been slowly but surely allowing Korean acts back into the fold since as early as last year. Chinese regulators have been indicating that the option to review Korean entertainment applications could happen on a case by case basis, and we've been seeing allowances for screenings of films/film festivals as well as Korean video games. In reference to specific music acts, Super Junior held part of their world tour in Hong Kong in November of 2022, Jay Park had a performance in Shanghai just last month, and at least a handful of other acts have seen successful performances allowed there as well. This of course is not an "official" stance by the Chinese government, but the regulations have been loosening for a while now, so this is hardly a monumental occasion when Le Sserafim are not even the first K-pop act to be allowed to come to the Chinese mainland to perform since the 2016 ban began.
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