The idol group Kep1er has postponed the fan concert (fan meeting) originally scheduled to be held in Fuzhou, China, on the 13th of next month.
The agency, KLEP, noted on the 27th, "Due to unavoidable local circumstances, the Kep1er performance schedule has been postponed."
A new date for the event has not yet been decided.
Since 2016, China has informally applied a ban on Korean music, dramas, and films (known as the Korean wave restriction) in response to the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system by the United States military in Korea.
As a result, there have been no performances by K-pop stars in China for some time.
Recently, small-scale fan meetings, rather than concerts, have been allowed, and SHINee's Taemin, Kang Daniel, and Mamamoo's Solar have met with local fans.
However, they were unable to showcase their singing on stage, and some artists held events cautiously, choosing not to disclose the fan meeting venues in advance and informing only ticket purchasers.
In this atmosphere, it has been reported that Kep1er will incorporate the fan meeting format next month while presenting more than 10 songs, amplifying expectations for the easing of the Korean wave restriction.
However, their performance was postponed only about two weeks before it was to be held. Earlier in May, the group epex announced a performance in China that was later canceled, and G-Dragon's media exhibition in Shanghai was also called off that month.
In the music industry, as the Korean wave restriction was an unofficial sanction that was not codified, there are predictions that it will be difficult to anticipate whether scheduled performances will actually take place until they occur.