Fans in Korea will have to wait to see BTS as the K-pop group announced that they’re canceling upcoming April shows that were supposed to kick off their “Map of The Soul: 7” tour due to Coronavirus.
“While we hope that the situation will improve, we must take into consideration the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of guests as well as our artists and the dire impact a last-minute cancellation may have on guests from overseas, production companies and staff,” Big Hit Entertainment, the group’s management company shared on Twitter in Korean.
[공지] #BTS MAP OF THE SOUL TOUR – SEOUL 공연 취소 안내 (+ENG/JPN/CHN)https://t.co/at6Qtntrbj
— BTS_official (@bts_bighit) February 28, 2020
The concerts were scheduled for April 11, 12, 18 and 19 at the Jamsil Olympic Stadium in Seoul.
“Please understand that this decision was made after extensive and careful consideration in order to cooperate with the government’s measures on restricting public events as well as municipal advisories on the use of cultural and sports facilities,” the statement explained.
Anyone who has purchased tickets will be refunded in full, according to the note. But fans are upset over the cancellation nonetheless. The tickets were originally purchased through a raffle system and it doesn’t appear that the shows have been rescheduled yet.
Access Hollywood recently spoke to BTS during their whirlwind stop in NYC as their anticipated album “Map of the Soul: 7” dropped. The K-Pop superstars sat with Access Hollywood to talk about the inspiration behind the album and share how lucky they feel for the thousands of fans who camped out for days for their chance to see them on the “Today” show in New York.
The full statement from BTS’ management company can be read here:
Hello. This is Big Hit Entertainment
We regret to announce that the BTS MAP OF THE SOUL TOUR – SEOUL Concert, originally scheduled to be held on April 11 (Sat), 12 (Sun), 18 (Sat) and 19 (Sun) at OLYMPIC STADIUM, has been canceled.
Plans for “MAP OF THE SOUL TOUR – SEOUL” included the involvement of a number of global production companies and a large group of expert international crew, with over 200,000 concertgoers expected to attend.
However, the current global coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has made it impossible at this time to predict the scale of the outbreak during the dates of the concert in April, alongside increasing uncertainty about the cross-border movement of concert staff and equipment.
While we hope that the situation will improve, we must take into consideration the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of guests as well as our artists and the dire impact a last-minute cancellation may have on guests from overseas, production companies and staff. We have thus determined that with approximately one month left before the Seoul concert is set to begin, it is unavoidable that the concert must be canceled without further delay.
Please understand that this decision was made after extensive and careful consideration in order to cooperate with the government’s measures on restricting public events as well as municipal advisories on the use of cultural and sports facilities.
Tickets already reserved will be refunded in full through INTERPARK, the official ticket agent. Please refer to the “Refund Notice” below as well as the INTERPARK ticket Webpage (reservation page), or contact the INTERPARK ticket customer service center (1544-1555) for more information.
We would like to sincerely apologize for issuing this notice of cancellation to all of our fans who had been eagerly looking forward to the BTS MAP OF THE SOUL TOUR – SEOUL Concert, and we ask for your understanding.
Thank you.