Not one, not two, but more than three members of K-Pop idol groups were unable to perform at this year’s Golden Disk Awards (GDA) due to concert visa-related issues.
Presented annually by the Music Industry Association of Korea, the GDA is a prestigious award show for outstanding achievements in the South Korea music industry. For the 29th GDA, the association is holding its 3rd overseas awards show in Beijing after making successful debuts in Japan and Malaysia.
The 29th GDA will be held in Beijing on 14th and 15th of January but before the artistes could even make their appearances at the red carpet, problems have arisen as members of several Korean idol groups had visa-related issues.
Although B2ST will still receive an award on 16th Jan, all 6 members of B2ST will not be able to perform for the award show as their agency and event organisers were unable to resolve the visa issues.
B2ST at Incheon Airport on January 13th, 2015 / Image source
Regarding this issue, B2ST’s agency Cube Entertainment rep stated:
The 4 members have departed with a supplementary (tourist) visa. It seems the issue came about while renewing their passports… Although they have a (departure) permit for a cultural performance, we will have to look into whether they can perform on stage there.
Yoseob of B2ST also apologised to his fans through his official Twitter account, promising the fans that they will work harder for a better show in the future:
6명 전부 골든 디스크에 참석 합니다. 다만 공연비자의 문제로 상황이 (cont) http://t.co/YhIiOSDtu5
— 요덮 (@all4b2uty) January 14, 2015
Translation (credits goes to Twitter user @yongjunna):
All six of us will attend the show. However, due to the problems in the visa, BEAST will not be able to perform. I would like to apologise once again to the many fans waiting and anticipating (us). Especially to the Chinese fans; even the show the previous time was cancelled, the disappointment would be even greater. We will work hard so we can repay you with an even better show. I’m sorry.
B2ST isn’t the only group that faced such problems as BTS’s Jungkook, GOT7’s Bambam, and Yugyeom will not be able to join their respective group for their scheduled performances at GDA 2015.
BTS’s Jungkook / Image source: Mwave
The youngest member of BTS, Jungkook, will not be able perform at the awards ceremony as he is reported to be having visa-related issues as well. Although all of the members had already departed from South Korea to Beijing, their agency Big Hit Entertainment rep stated:
We are looking into the situation with the Chinese event organizers… The members, who will be able to perform, will be confirmed accordingly. [BTS] might have to perform not as 7, but as 6 members. We have faith that things will work out there.
Bambam’s and Yugeyom’s absence from the award show was confirmed by both the GDA rep and GOT7’s agency JYP Entertainment’s rep today. The agency posted the announcement on GOT7’s official fan club site, only stating that both of them “ran into issues with their visa, making them unable to attend (the awards ceremony).”
Golden Disk Awards took the blame for the issues and posted up an apology on its official site:
Hello, this is the office of Golden Disk Awards.
We want to make an announcement regarding the administrative issue with performance visas for a number of the performances.
The group B2ST will receive an award on January 14 as scheduled. However, they will not be able to perform. The B2ST members and involved agency tried hard to make it possible to perform, but the event organizers were not able to solve the visa issues.
Aside from the members who were not able to receive a performance visa (GOT7’s Bam Bam, GOT7’s Yugyeom, BTS’s Jung Kook), GOT7 and BTS will perform.
We apologize for causing worry to the said artists and fans.
What a bummer! 