Seoul to be Immersed in ‘Hallyu’ from June 19 with ‘MyK FESTA’ and ‘Beauty Festival’

Seoul is set to be filled with the fervor of Hallyu, including content and beauty, from June 19. The large-scale comprehensive Hallyu festival "2025 MyK FESTA" will be held at Olympic Park from June 19 to 22, while the "2025 Korea Beauty Festival" for foreigners will take place across Seoul from June 19 to July 18.

As the Lee Jae-myung government proposed a goal of “300 trillion won K-culture market era” combining cultural content with beauty and food as a presidential election pledge, attention is focused on the success of this Hallyu festival.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on June 17 that it will host the large-scale comprehensive Hallyu festival 2025 MyK FESTA in collaboration with the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange. This first-time event will bring together Hallyu fans from home and abroad, as well as experts and officials from the content and related industries, for various events including performances, international conferences, industry exhibitions, and export consultations.

The ministry explained, “‘MyK FESTA’ is a platform for cultural and industrial exchange that broadly introduces the latest lifestyle and related industries centered on Hallyu content to global Hallyu fans interested in K-pop and OTT K-content. It is expected to provide Hallyu fans with an opportunity to directly experience Hallyu, and to show domestic and foreign companies the potential for business expansion and international exchange.”

On the opening day, June 19, and on June 21, K-pop concerts featuring popular K-pop singers and rookie artists who will lead future K-pop will be held at the K-SPORT DOME (former Olympic Gymnastics Arena). On June 19, N.Flying, WayV, Lee Young-ji, aespa, ILLit, Hearts to Hearts, New Beat, and A-HOI will perform, while on June 21, Lyn, Heize, NCT TEN, Chungha, Lee Mujin, ITZY, BEO, and TNX will take the stage. The K-pop concerts are expected to be attended by about 30,000 people, including 20,000 overseas Hallyu fans.

Additionally, an international conference with domestic and foreign experts in content and related industries will be held on June 20. Mike Van, CEO of Billboard, Daniel Zine, head of Marketing for Asia Pacific at Visa, Choi Jong-il, CEO of Iconix, Lee Young-ah, CSO of Olive Young, Lee Do-yoon, director of the Netflix series "Trauma Center," and Lee Jong-beom, author of the webtoon "Dr. Frost," will discuss the growth potential and expandability of the K-content industry. Moreover, BoA, the original Hallyu singer, is expected to host the conference. Anyone interested can participate in the event through Naver reservations.

On June 22, about 10 domestic art performance teams, including Ak Dan Gwang Chil and Yuhee Ska, who have received acclaim on international stages, will showcase various performances, providing an opportunity to experience the quality and excellence of K-culture.

From June 19 to 22, an exhibition and experience hall with about 100 domestic companies participating in various fields such as drama, webtoon, food, and lifestyle will be operated at the Handball Stadium. Visitors can directly experience and enjoy K-content as well as Korean lifestyle and culture combined with K-content. This exhibition will feature various brands popular among foreign tourists, including the three major terrestrial broadcasters, the Animation Producers Association, Iconix (Zanmang Luppy), Samjin Fishcake, CheongKwanJang, Maeil Dairies, LF Fashion, and Hyundai Outlet, making the sights and attractions even more abundant.

In addition, the Handball Stadium event stage will host talks and lectures covering content industry officials and Hallyu fans, as well as meetings with K-pop singers. The Korea Music Label Industry Association will hold the "KINDIE Summit" centered on music experts to examine the trends and expansion directions of the music industry from various angles. Experts in K-food, intellectual property (IP), content, and other fields will communicate with the audience through lectures. Park Yong-jun, CEO of Samjin Fishcake, Song Jung-hoon, CEO of Yuta Cup Rice, Baek Ji-min, director of MNB, Roh Hee-young, CEO of Food Research Institute, and Lee Nak-joon, writer of Trauma Center, will be among the speakers. Rookie K-pop singers New Beat and TNX will hold fan signing events to interact directly with domestic and foreign Hallyu fans.

At the Olympic Park Hanul Plaza, various companies representing K-food will open pop-up stores, providing foreign tourists with the opportunity to directly experience the taste of Korea that they have only seen in videos. Companies including Hite Jinro Beverage and Dong-A Pharmaceutical, as well as food and beverage brands popular among the younger generation such as What a Bread, Cheong23, and Yogurt World, will showcase a diverse range of K-food that encompasses both tradition and the latest trends.

A business export consultation meeting will also be held with about 160 domestic companies seeking overseas expansion and about 170 overseas buyers participating. This is expected to help our companies pioneer practical sales channels and establish domestic and international networks.

Yoon Yang-soo, director general of International Cultural Affairs and Public Relations at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said, “The ministry will strive to expand Hallyu into broader fields through this event, and in the medium to long term, we will develop ‘MyK FESTA’ to become a representative exhibition in the cultural industry field, like the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).”

In addition, the ministry, along with the Visit Korea Committee and the Korea Tourism Organization, will host the 2025 Korea Beauty Festival for foreigners across Seoul from June 19 to July 18. This year, Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Jang Mi-ran will attend the opening ceremony on June 19 to announce the start of the festival and encourage domestic and foreign participating company representatives.

The Korea Beauty Festival is in its second year following last year. The slogan for this event is "NEW ME·미·美," which embodies the event’s purpose of introducing a journey to find one’s own new beauty through K-beauty to foreigners. The ministry explained, “As interest and demand for ‘K-beauty’ are expanding worldwide, ‘K-beauty’ is now leading the global beauty trend and has become an essential core content for inbound tourism. Korea’s cosmetics export scale first exceeded $1 billion in 2012 and reached $10 billion in 2024, 12 years later, and the number of medical tourists visiting Korea last year reached a record high of 1.17 million.”

This year, a comprehensive hub ‘K-beauty Town’ will be operated from June 19 to 22 at the indoor and outdoor Art Hall and Oullim Square of the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul, where visitors can comprehensively experience K-beauty content in five major areas: hair, makeup, fashion, medical, and wellness tourism. The opening ceremony will be held at 7 PM on the 19th at DDP Oullim Square, featuring various attractions including a musical performance on the theme of ‘K-beauty’ and opening celebration events.

In Art Hall 2, spaces for the five major ‘K-beauty’ fields -- hair, makeup, fashion, medical, and wellness -- will be operated. ▲ K-beauty Studio = In the hair and makeup section, visitors can experience various brand products along with personalized color analysis and free makeup touch-ups. ▲K-beauty Shop = In the fashion section, visitors can participate in clothing styling experiences and create their own fashion items. ▲K-beauty Park = In the health section, non-face-to-face and non-contact vision tests, professional consultations on presbyopia, cataracts, and skin-related issues, along with ear therapy can be experienced, while in the wellness section, visitors can experience mind healing for cultivating healthy beauty, making herbal oil, and tasting flower tea.

In the Conference Hall, on June 19, the opening day, one-on-one business consultations will be held with domestic and foreign medical, wellness, and other K-beauty industry representatives. 87 overseas buyers and content creators from 11 countries have been invited to support the overseas market expansion of K-beauty products through consultations and real-time promotions. From the 20th, lectures on various K-beauty fields will be held.

In the Art Hall corridor and Oullim Square, participating companies and institutions will exhibit their products and conduct various events. On June 20 and 21, hair shows and fashion shows featuring famous hair and makeup artists and domestic fashion designer brands will be held on the outdoor special stage. K-pop dance performances and quiz shows that capture the eyes and ears of Hallyu fans can also be enjoyed. Art Hall 2 can be entered by making reservations through the official website in advance or applying on-site, while other spaces can be visited without any separate procedures.

To welcome foreign tourists, a welcome center will be operated in front of Myeongdong Theater from June 19 to July 18. It will introduce the event to visitors and provide tourism interpretation services. A ‘stamp tour’ linked with nearby beauty stores will also be conducted to encourage more purchases of beauty products and services.

Seven promotional hubs linked to corporate spaces have also been set up in areas frequently visited by foreign tourists, such as Myeongdong, Dongdaemun, Seongsu, Gangnam, Hongdae, and Cheonggyecheon. ▲ At Beauty Play in Myeongdong (June 19-July 2), free makeup touch-up services will be provided along with events offering souvenirs for social media review authentication. ▲ At the Seoul Oriental Medicine Promotion Center in Dongdaemun (July 5-18), wellness programs including tasting healthy herbal tea and experiencing oriental medicine treatments will be offered to pre-registered participants. ▲ At B the B, a beauty complex cultural space in Dongdaemun (June 19-29), fashion tattoo sticker decoration programs will be operated.

▲ At Culture Space inside Seongsu Station (June 24-July 7), visitors can make their own keyrings and coasters. ▲ At COVERNAT in Hongdae (June 19-30), personalized K-fashion styling and clothing design experience services will be provided. ▲ At Jenny House in Gangnam (June 19-July 18), hair and makeup products will be given to store visitors and treatment customers, and a free photo booth will be operated. ▲ At Hiker Ground in Cheonggyecheon (June 19-July 2), skin can be diagnosed through skin measurement devices.

About 520 participating companies and institutions in the five major ‘K-beauty’ fields including hair, makeup, fashion, medical, and wellness, as well as aviation, accommodation, and shopping, will offer discounts on products and services by field and provide abundant benefits such as gift giveaways to foreign tourists.

Vice Minister Jang Mi-ran said, “This ‘Korea Beauty Festival’ will become a global ‘K-beauty’ tourism hub where people from around the world can directly see, feel, and experience everything about ‘K-beauty’ that the world is enthusiastic about.”

Meanwhile, in conjunction with the Korea Beauty Festival and MyK FESTA, free shuttle buses connecting DDP, Myeongdong Welcome Center, and Olympic Park will operate three times a day from June 19 to 22 for foreigners. Foreign tourists wishing to board can apply on-site at each stop point.