South Korea's Presidential Committee unveils FANOMENON, a global K-pop festival brand targeting LA in 2028

South Korea's Presidential Committee for Public Culture Exchange is building a global K-pop festival brand called FANOMENON. Co-chairs Park Jin-young and Choi Hui-young announced the promotion plan on the 27th.

The Fandom Awards launches in December 2027 across two venues: Seoul Changdong Arena (scheduled for completion in May 2027) and Ilsan KINTEX. LA hosts the main festival in 2028. Music festivals in major cities worldwide will follow.

The committee includes representatives from Hive, JYP, SM, and YG. It also plans to establish K Culture Centers globally as permanent bases for the initiative. Domestic and international small and mid-sized agencies and artists will be invited to participate.

Park Jin-young said the committee is currently researching ways to quantify and data-fy fandom influence to establish evaluation criteria for the awards. Using fandom metrics as a judging standard is genuinely new for a major awards show.

The announcement follows BTS's comeback concert, BTS Comeback Live: Arirang, held at Seoul Gwanghwamun Plaza on March 21. FANOMENON positions itself as South Korea's answer to Coachella, held in Coachella Valley near Joshua Tree National Park in California.