Over 30 fans turned out in Central Auckland today to meet and dance with their idols ahead of New Zealand's first-ever K-pop festival.
Kard, a four-piece group from South Korea, joined fans to perform their 2023 hit Icky at Freyberg Square, outside the Ellen Melville Community Centre.
Singer BM told 1News the band's visit was "long-awaited" and that they were very happy to meet their New Zealand fans for the first time.
"To be able to really feel the energy in person is very different as opposed to reading comments or seeing reactions online."
One fan was "speechless" and "wordless" upon seeing the band in person.
"Watching them in dance videos on your screen and then in front of you, it's like 'whoa, hello, you exist!'"
Another fan said that New Zealand has started to get a lot more involved recently in the scene due to K-pop focused events.
"Seeing more people come, it's like 'oh, we do have the fans for it' and so we can hopefully have more people come do the same sort of things."
This comes ahead of tomorrow's inaugural K-Wave festival at Trusts Arena — New Zealand's first-ever K-pop festival.
Acts like LeeHi, Kard, Odd Eye Circle, Jey, and 10cm will be performing, alongside local artists like Prins.
The Kiwi singer-songwriter performed at K-Fest last year, also at Freyberg Square, and has also noticed an increase in support for K-pop.
"It's been really cool just to watch it grow, and the fact that K-Wave is happening tomorrow at Trusts Arena kind of sums up the numbers that we're able to bring out."
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