The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister PARK Bo Gyoon, MCST), the Korean Cultural Center in Kazakhstan (Director LEE Hye-ran), and the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (President JUNG Kilhwa, KOFICE) will hold  “Hello! K-Pop Festa (Сәлем! K-POP Festa)” at the Central Concert Hall in NurSultan, the capital city of Kazakhstan on Saturday June 18 at  4 pm (local time, 7 pm Korean time). The  K-Pop Festa (Сәлем! K-POP Festa) shows the start of 2022-2023 Korea-Kazakhstan Year of Mutual Cultural Exchange. With the start of this concert, the two countries will promote various cultural exchange events for the upcoming two years.

In 2019, Korea and Kazakhstan agreed to promote the Year of Mutual Cultural Exchange in 2022, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. This May the two nations agreed to cooperate for mutual cultural exchanges in 2022 and 2023. Kazakhstan, a pivot country in Central Asia, was the backbone of the Silk Road connecting the East and the West. Taking the opportunity of the year of mutual cultural exchange, the two countries will build a cultural silk road to activate exchanges in the fields of culture, sports, and tourism and deepen mutual trust and understanding.

The ‘Hello! K-Pop Festa’ received a lot of attention from the locals, with all seats sold out within 3 hours when the ticket sales opened. Singer BAEK Ji-young, who sang the OST from the drama “Secret Garden”, and the K-pop group “Highlight” will be meeting audience on stage. “VIVIZ”, wearing Hanbok to share the charm of the Korean traditional apparel, is expected to perform on the stage. At the end of the performance, all the cast will sing together "It's a Beautiful Night" to wrap up the performance.

In addition, after the K-Pop performance, there will be 12 cultural exchange events to line up to commemorate the year of mutual cultural exchange in both Korea and Kazakhstan. Exhibition of Korean paintings by artist PARK Daesung will be held at the National Museum of Kazakhstan in Nurusultan from June 24 to August 14 and soprano JO Sumi will hold concert at Astana Ballet Theater in Nurusultan in September. Also, Kazakhstan national Ballet team will visit Korea between July and December.