Cultural Insight

[Anchor Lead]

BTS fans held a fan meeting in an unusual manner. Even without the appearance of the K-pop star, 10,000 fans turned up at the event, boasting the power of BTS' fandom, Army.

[Pkg]

An event that looks like a concert of BTS was held at Seoul Plaza in front of Seoul City Hall on March ten. It was "Run Army in Action," a free event that brought together 10,000 BTS fans. Without the appearance of the K-pop sensation, only its fans participated init as part of a quiz event called "Armypedia," which was launched by BTS last month. During the gathering, fans watched BTS concert videos through a giant screen and solved quizzes about the idol boy group together. It was a festival only for fans without the star. However, fans appear proud of the fact that the event demonstrates solidarity and fellowship among armies. BTS plans to hold another offline event at a cultural park in Mapo, Seoul, on March 23. Attention is drawn to if such festivals would become a new type of events through which stars entertain their fans. Korean idol girl groups Black Pink and ITZY ranked first and second in a brand value survey conducted by the the Korea Institute of Corporate Reputation. The institute said that domestic girl groups were ranked through the analysis of roughly 100 million data from February eight to March nine. Black Pink claimed top spot on the monthly chart in January and February. ITZY is a new girl group that debuted on February 12. But it climbed to second place, defeating super-popular girl groups including IZ.ONE, Red Velvet and Twice. ITZY is a new girl group JYP Entertainment created four years after presenting Twice. It appears that the new girl group is off to a great start by topping various music charts and K-pop shows upon its debut.