K-pop’s BTS comeback tour rallies South Korea’s global ‘soft power’ drive

K-pop sensations BTS ignited a wave of interest in South Korean culture that now extends from food to cosmetics.

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Seoul – Shekinah Yawra had no other option but to spend the night at a South Korean jjimjilbang, a 24-hour bathhouse, after every hotel near central Seoul sold out in late March.

But sleep was secondary for the 32-year-old Filipino who had made her way to Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square at 7am to secure a spot in a crowd that city officials estimated would grow to hundreds of thousands.