K-pop Stars to Join Ohtani in MLB Seoul Games Showcasing Korea

Jenny Lee
·2 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Shohei Ohtani won’t be the only VIP present at Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome on Wednesday as K-pop idols, celebrity athletes and government officials join the opportunity to showcase South Korea to the world at the Major League Baseball season opener.

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Before Ohtani’s debut game with the Los Angeles Dodgers against the San Diego Padres begins — the first-ever official MLB match in Korea — K-pop girl group aespa will hit the stage for a performance. Korean pop stars have surged in popularity globally, and SM Entertainment Co.-backed aespa is among the leading lights: the quartet has more than 13 million followers on Instagram, one of the highest for a K-pop group.

Chan Ho Park, the first Korea-born athlete to play in MLB and an ex-Dodger, will throw the ceremonial first pitch. At the second game on Thursday, male artist Baekhyun will sing both the Korean and US national anthems, and another girl group, (G)I-DLE, will perform. Key diplomatic figures will be in attendance too, including the US and Japanese ambassadors to South Korea and Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister, according to government releases.

For fans curious about Ohtani’s life outside the baseball field, the biggest spotlight may be on his wife, Mamiko Tanaka, if she attends the game. Google searches for Tanaka jumped on March 15 when Ohtani released a photograph of them together on his Instagram page for the first time.

All that goes to show that the Seoul Series are more than just professional baseball games. For MLB and Korea Baseball Organization, it’s a chance to revive the sport’s popularity by matching up some of the game’s best performers, with Ohtani and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers going against Yu Darvish and Korean star Ha-seong Kim of the Padres.

For Korea, it’s also an opportunity to highlight Seoul to a global audience, with the goal of attracting more tourists as the end of the pandemic helps travel take off globally. Seoul’s mayor has said his long-term goal is to attract 30 million visitors a year from abroad to the capital city, from this year’s target of 15 million people.

And for the K-pop industry, getting aespa and the other artists on TV screens in the world’s biggest music markets may be a way to sustain the global popularity of its stars. Concern has mounted that after four years of an unprecedented boom, growth in the sector may be slowing.

Aespa is no stranger to MLB. The group went to Yankee Stadium in June last year to throw the first pitch, a job usually reserved for celebrities and notable people including political leaders. Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol threw it at a KBO opening game in 2023.

--With assistance from Soo-Hyang Choi, Sohee Kim and Soo Jin Kim.

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