K-pop’s Global Wave Inspires Chile’s Next Pop Stars
SANTIAGO, Chile — Throughout an unusually cold winter in Chile’s capital, an air of feverish anticipation has been building among fans of Korean pop culture, as global K-pop sensation BTS prepares to arrive in Santiago this October as part of their comeback world tour, the latest chapter in Latin America’s deepening embrace of Korean entertainment.
BTS has already staged sold-out shows in Mexico, with additional sell-out dates scheduled across Colombia, Peru, Argentina, and Brazil. Demand in Mexico reportedly proved so overwhelming that President Claudia Sheinbaum personally reached out to South Korean officials to explore the possibility of adding further tour dates in the country.
From food and television to skincare and clothing, the broader phenomenon known as Hallyu, or the “Korean wave,” has found a passionate new audience across Latin America, and in Chile it is increasingly being reshaped by a generation of young, homegrown fans and performers. Hallyu first began spreading globally in the 1990s, gradually carrying Korean music, television dramas, cuisine, and beauty trends from niche interests into mainstream cultural touchstones across the region. In Chile today, young people are going well beyond simply consuming Korean pop culture; they are actively reworking it into something distinctly their own by adopting core K-pop elements, from energetic choreography and high-value music video production to a youthful, colourful visual aesthetic.
That reshaping is most visible in the emergence of homegrown, K-pop-inspired acts such as Q_ARE, a six-member Chilean boy band that has become part of a growing wave of local artists drawing on Korean music, visuals, and performance style. The group’s six members, known as Seba, Jamin, Jota, Bin, Aiden, and Fabi, were selected after responding to an online casting call two years ago, going on to complete a six-month audition and training process before the final lineup was confirmed. Chilean fans of groups like Q_ARE have occasionally taken it upon themselves to explain the meaning of local Chilean slang used in the group’s lyrics to other Spanish-speaking fans across Latin America, underscoring how the genre is being localised for regional audiences.
The scale of Korean cultural influence in Santiago is visible well beyond music. The Patronato neighbourhood, which hosted the first wave of Korean migrants to the Chilean capital throughout the 20th century, is now home to more than 50 Korean restaurants, many under Chilean ownership capitalising on surging local interest in Korean cuisine and culture, with several venues looping K-pop music videos on screen for customers.
Valeria Vivar, whose own connection to Korea began with a childhood fascination with anime and other Asian pop culture, now coordinates the Rey Sejong Institute in Santiago, a Korean government-backed language and cultural institution with centres operating around the world. Speaking from the institute’s glass-walled foyer during Santiago’s annual Korean cultural week, where visitors sampled Korean food, browsed cosmetics, tested their knowledge in quizzes, and competed in K-pop dance contests, Vivar noted that the institute now serves roughly 200 students studying Korean, a fourfold increase since it began offering classes back in 2019.
Together, the rise of local acts like Q_ARE, the growth of Korean-language education, and the anticipation surrounding BTS’s upcoming Santiago tour date illustrate how thoroughly the Korean wave has taken hold in Chile, transforming from an imported cultural trend into a homegrown creative movement shaped by the country’s own young performers and fans.
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