Say Sue Me open up on the cancelled concert that would have chipped away at China’s ‘Hallyu ban’ on Korean entertainment

nme.com:

Say Sue Me were due to play a show in Beijing: a concert that would have chipped away at China’s famous years-long ‘Hallyu ban’ on entertainment and pop culture from South Korea.

But it wasn’t to be – in an exclusive interview with NME, frontwoman Choi Sumi spoke about the permit withdrawal that foiled them, and their enduring desire to reach their Chinese fans someday.On June 20, the indie rock band from Busan revealed that they had successfully applied for a permit to play their first show in Beijing the following month, only for Chinese authorities to withdraw permission for the show to take place just as the band were gearing up to announce it. “We thought that a warm breeze was coming in the cold, but it’s such a shame,” they wrote on Instagram – an oblique reference to how they could have helped end China’s unofficial ‘Hallyu ban’, or prohibition on Korean entertainment and pop culture, which has lasted about seven years.The Hallyu ban has its roots in geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Seoul, specifically a year-long standoff over the USA’s deployment of a missile defence system on Korean soil in 2016.

As The Diplomat reported in 2023, this ban manifested in the prohibition of new investment by South Korean entertainment agencies, performances by idol groups and cooperation for K-drama and K-variety projects.While China has never officially acknowledged the Hallyu ban, the sudden disappearance of South Korean pop culture in the country was clear to see.