KCON Announces 2018 Dates For New York, Los Angeles

The last year has been a big one for K-pop. The once-niche genre has exploded onto the western music scene thanks to popular acts like BTS and BlackPink. Now, one of the biggest K-pop conventions has announced its US dates for 2018, and fans are already marking off the dates on their calendar.

Today, KCON 2018 announced its dates for the New York and Los Angeles conventions at its SXSW panel in August, TX. June 23-24 will see the Korean wave convention take over the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. Los Angeles, CA will host its convention August 10-12 at the LA Convention Center and STAPLES Center.

So far, no guests or K-pop acts have been announced for either date. The organization did say it plans on expanding its programs and K-beauty events at this year's stateside events.

"This year's KCON USA will continue the tradition of providing unprecedented access for American fans to a line-up of A-list concerts, celebrity meet and greets, as well as workshops and panels that cover every aspect of Korean culture and entertainment. The programming does not stop at music, with food, fashion, television, film, esports and more playing important roles in the bi-coastal event. This year, KCON will expand the K-Beauty component of the convention bringing in brands normally inaccessible to U.S. consumers," KCON released in a new statement.

If you are not familiar with KCON, you will hear about it sooner rather than later once you join the K-pop fandom. The organization hosts annual events which celebrate all things Korean pop culture. Having started in Los Angeles in 2012, KCON has gone on to host events in countries like Japan, UAE, France, Mexico, and Australia. Last year, nearly 130,000 fans attended KCON's US conventions as acts like GFriend, KNK, CNBLUE, Twice, GOT7, KARD, and more performed across the events.

This year, KCON has already hosted one of its international events in Japan. The three-day celebration took place in Chiba and saw a slew of Hallyu stars hit the stage to perform for fans. Pentagon and Wanna One grabbed headlines the first night before acts like Seventeen, Sik-K, Monsta X, Sunmi, Twice, and many more followed on the remaining concert dates.

Have you ever been to KCON? Do you have plans to attend one of these US dates this year? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!