Following the huge success of the London Korean Festival 2015, and in conjunction with the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, London Korean Festival has made a return once again. This year, visitors were able to enjoy everything from Korea’s oldest traditions like Hanbok and Hanji (traditional Korean paper), to latest Korean creativity from webtoons, to animations as well as the highly anticipated K-Pop!

Visitors during the day event enjoyed free entry into the venue. 2016-2018 has been commemorated as the Visit Korea year, with the support of ambassador, renowned K-wave actor Lee Min Ho. During the event, visitors also got to know more about tourism in Korea, one of the more popular tourist destinations in Asia in recent times.

Later in the day, the festival also hosted the biggest K-Pop event of the year: K-Pop World Festival UK Preliminary rounds, with members from KNK, SeungJun and Jihun, as judges on the panel.

Switching things up in the evening, London Korean Festival hosted the most highly anticipated Feel Korea K-Pop concert with some of the biggest names in industry – Highlight (formerly known as Beast) and EXID. They were also joined by rookie groups Snuper and KNK.

The audience was also in for a huge surprise as Hani, from EXID, took the stage as the special MC. She even wowed the crowd by greeting them and hosting in fluent English, not forgetting to send lovely winks to her fans out there.

KNK, a 5-member boy band, may have just started out recently but they have already acquired a huge fanbase in UK. During their performance, they presented their dynamic dance moves to U and their debut single Knock. In addition, KNK had also prepared a special stage for the fans in London, singing Ed Sheeran’s hit song Photograph. This definitely struck a chord among the fans as they instantaneously garnered a massive sing-along session with the crowd.

Up next was Snuper, a 6-member boy band who powered a huge impact with singles like It’s Raining and Platonic Love. Their combination of cute and charismatic choreography in both singles left quite a memorable impression with the crowd, their fans responding with passionate and ear-piercing screams.

Although they may be a rookie group with less than 2 years of experience on stage, Snuper is a group I would look out for. One may find them familiar from the OSTs of recent dramas like Hyde and Jekyll and Oh My Venus. During the festival concert, Snuper invited a lucky fan on stage and serenaded Oh My Venus while giving out roses to the audience off stage. They were also joined by past K-Pop world festival participants on stage with a dance battle, setting the stage on Fire.

Not surprisingly, these girls took control of the stage with their hit singles Hot Pink, Ah Yeah and the legendary performance of Up and Down. Despite the absence of their fifth member, Solji, the girls filled the stage with their energetic and sexy moves.

During their special stage, Hye Lin showcased her great vocals to the song You Raise Me Up as fans waved their hands in the air to her performance.

And finally, the boys from Highlight were back with their first mini-album under their new name. Starting anew on their own, Highlight, formerly known as Beast, performed to the catchy tunes of Plz Don’t Be Sad and Calling You. As they performed on stage, the crowd began to move forward in excitement.

Ending their performance on a high note, Highlight performed one of their popular hits, Beautiful Night, as the crowd danced to the familiar tune.

For the finale performance, all the groups gathered on stage with their hit singles playing one after another and thid ended with Highlight’s Can You Feel It. All the group members were busy throwing soft balls with their signed autographs down into the audience. Instantly, the fans began to push through the crowd to receive the gifts from the groups.

London Korean Festival 2017 was an incredible success, gathering thousands of fans together under one roof to share their love for Korean culture and interests towards K-Pop. For more photos and videos of the festival, be sure to check out our FB page @thefifthparlour