2026 K-pop World Festival draws 1,700 teams from 54 countries

The 2026 K-pop World Festival is bringing six international teams to South Korea after approximately 1,700 teams across 54 countries participated in preliminary competitions around the world.

The festival’s final will take place October 18 at a special stage in Changwon Plaza, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This year’s preliminary process was conducted through 57 South Korean diplomatic missions across 54 countries, with regional competitions drawing hundreds to thousands of spectators. The festival is celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2026.

Six teams ultimately advanced to the final, representing Peru, France, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Tanzania and Kyrgyzstan.

The finalists will perform alongside Click-B, ONF, Lee Mu-jin, Na Tae-joo and FIFTY FIFTY during the Changwon event.

The K-pop World Festival is jointly hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Changwon City and organized by KBS, with support from the South Gyeongsang provincial government. The competition is designed to bring K-pop performers from around the world together after locally organized qualifying rounds.

This year’s reach extends beyond the competition itself. KBS and KBS WORLD plan to broadcast footage from the final across 140 countries following the event.

Five thousand tickets for the Changwon final will become available on October 1.

The scale of this year’s preliminary process offers another snapshot of how broadly participation in K-pop culture now extends. While the final brings only six teams to Korea, qualifying events stretched across dozens of countries before the competition reached its final stage.