When Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto recently visited Seoul for a state visit, one of the most memorable moments was a photo that he took with a 19-year-old Indonesian K-pop idol.
Nyoman Ayu Carmenita, better known as Carmen of the girl group Hearts2Hearts, symbolises Indonesia’s ascendancy in the K-pop universe: no longer just a vast market for the genre’s stars, with the country increasingly playing a part in the industry’s global growth.
Foreign Minister Sugiono said on April 22 that Prabowo had asked South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to help bring more K-pop concerts to Indonesia.
“The president plans to increase the number of [K-pop] concerts for K-pop fans,” Sugiono told reporters, adding the president always aimed to “deliver something that can be felt directly by the Indonesian people” from his visits to other countries.
While the news has been met with excitement by many Indonesian K-pop fans, others are sceptical that the country is ready to become a major concert destination.
The issue came to the fore in 2023 when Taylor Swift announced six concerts in Singapore in 2024, with Japan being the only other Asian destination for the American pop superstar that year. Coldplay also performed six shows in Singapore in 2024, compared with just one each in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.