Show! Music Core in Macau, a K-pop concert due to take place locally on 7 and 8 February was officially cancelled by the South Korean broadcaster and events organiser MBC yesterday, according to several media reports.
This decision was made just ten days before the concert “after comprehensively reviewing local circumstances and overall conditions,” said MBC in an official statement.
The turn of events follows the circulation of cancellation rumours just last week, because the venue remained unconfirmed and there were visa issues for Japanese performers. The latter reportedly caused some groups to withdraw entirely, while organisers and agencies discussed compromises such as performing without Japanese artists.
[See more: South Korea’s K-pop Dream Concert will open its world tour in Hong Kong]
The lineup was to have included K-pop groups like BoyNextDoor, Enhypen, Alpha Drive One, and Izna, but ticket sales that were originally intended to commence in mid-January were never launched.
The developments follow the recent cancellations of the shows in Macao by Japanese singers Mika Nakashima and Ayumi Hamasaki. Last December, singer Maki Otsuki was escorted off stage mid-song at Shanghai’s Bandai Namco Festival.
The cancellations come amid a continued downturn in Sino-Japanese relations after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of Japan suggested that Tokyo would intervene militarily if Taiwan were attacked, which Beijing sees as an affront to its sovereignty over the island under the One China policy.
