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South Korea can’t build enough stadiums to host its K-pop stars
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BTS The Comeback Live Arirang concert being held in Seoul on March 21. The venue shortage in the Seoul metropolitan area is growing sharper as live music becomes more popular in South Korea.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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John Yoon
GOYANG, South Korea – The stadium where BTS kicked off its world tour on April 9 is a far cry from some of the gleaming venues where the supergroup will perform over the next year. It is a decades-old, roofless soccer stadium on the outskirts of Seoul that spent most of its existence running a deficit.
But agencies representing K-pop stars “tell us we’re their only option”, said Ms Park Ji-hye, a municipal official overseeing concerts at the 40,000-seat Goyang Stadium. “They say there’s nowhere else to go.”
