Red Velvet Singer Joy to Skip Historic K-Pop Concert in North Korea
The upcoming South Korean music and cultural exchange event planned for Pyongyang will mark a historic moment between North Korea and South Korea, but Joy from Red Velvet, one of the K-pop acts slated to perform, won't be there to see it in person.
The singer, unfortunately, is unable to attend either of Red Velvet's Pyongyang concerts (scheduled for Sunday, April 1 and Tuesday, April 3) due to scheduling conflicts with her TV show.
On Friday (March 30), Joy's agency, SM Entertainment, announced that "due to Joy's filming of the MBC TV drama The Great Seducer, four members—Wendy, Irene, Selgi and Yeri—will attend the Pyongyang concerts," the K-pop Herald reports.
Red Velvet had initially planned to perform with its full member lineup, but SM Entertainment was "told by MBC that the late night TV series could face disruption from [lead star] Joy's absence."
The girl group is one of a handful of K-pop and K-rock acts set to perform in the demilitarized zone in Pyongyang just weeks following the 2018 Olympics, which were held in PyeongChang and saw participation from North Korean athletes.
Red Velvet will reportedly perform their songs "Red Flavor" and "Bad Boy."
Seohyun of Girls' Generation, Cho Yong-pil, Lee Sun-hee and rocker Yoon Do-hyun are also slated to perform.