SEVENTEEN K-pop performers and support crewmembers were denied entry to Saipan by U.S. Customs and Border Protection because they didn’t have a performing artist’s visa, Variety learned.
They arrived at 2 p.m. Wednesday and were sent back to South Korea on Thursday at 4 p.m.
The musical artists were supposed to perform in a free concert set for Oct. 28 and 29, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The event was organized by P&A Corporation in coordination with the Saipan Mayor’s Office.
“My concern now is how this is going to look on us,” Saipan Mayor David Apatang said on Thursday.
“This is not good news for us,” he added. “The way they were treated at the airport — they were separated and not allowed to talk to each other like prisoners. We are trying to promote our tourism industry, and yet the way these visitors were treated is not right.”
The organizers of the free concert — Hong Kyun Kim, president of P&A Corp.; Ho Joon “Jonathan” Joo of P&A Corp.; and Hyuk Sang Kwon of Winners Residence — held a press conference with the mayor on Thursday afternoon.
Apatang said the organizers asked his office for assistance in requesting the use of the Oleai Sports Complex track and field area as concert venue.
The Northern Marianas Sports Association, however, required a $1 million bond.
“It was too expensive [but] NMSA…allowed [the] use of the baseball field,” the mayor said.
(NMSA, however, said there was no bond requirement for the use of the track and field facility, adding that it did suggest the use the baseball field instead. NMSA said it was “concerned about the possibility of the newly resurfaced facility sustaining damage from the transportation of concert equipment and other logistical needs.”)
“They [the concert organizers] were getting ready for the setup. We had no idea that the performers had to secure a visa…. Korean tourists have been coming here [without a visa]…. We were not aware that if they are singing/performing here then they have to get a visa…. This is a free concert provided by the P&A group. They put it out in the advertisement that it’s free for the community. This is an opportunity for us to see these groups. K-pop [artists are] very popular. They perform in the states and other countries…and this is the first time that they are going to perform here in the CNMI,” the mayor added.
“This is an issue we need to clarify…in case they decide to bring somebody else in the future,” Apatang said.
P&A Corp. President Hong Kyun Kim said he was very disappointed that the concert was canceled.
Through a translator he said, “We invited K-pop performers in the hopes of expanding the Korean tourist market coming to Saipan.”
But Kim said he will continue to contribute to the local community of Saipan and work with the local people.
Kim, 74, has been a businessman on Saipan for the past 25 years, and has brought other performing artists to the island in the past.
“As a businessman I contribute to the local community through taxes and hiring of employees,” he said. “This [free concert] is one way of giving back to the community…. I have business associates in Korea and CNMI and they help me…. If this [concert] was successful, I had planned another one [for] December,” Kim added.
The Saipan mayor’s special assistant, Henry Hofschneider, said: “The live concert performances of the K-pop groups on Saipan would have been seen by their fans in Korea. For the rest of their stay they [were also supposed to] tour Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.”
According to a CBP official who declined to be identified, “The performers were instructed to lie to CBP officials [and] say that they were coming in as tourists. The performers were trying to circumvent the CNMI-visa program.”
But the K-pop concert directors and some stage engineers were allowed entry to the CNMI as tourists, Variety learned.
K-Pop performers and crewmembers rest at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport while waiting for their flight back to South Korea.
P&A Corp. owner Kim Hong Kyun, right, looks on as P&A manager Jonathan Joo, second right, talks to members of the media during a press conference at the Saipan Mayor’s Office on Thursday. Also in photo are the other members of the organizing committee of the 2022 Saipan Tourism Fanival-U.S.-Korea Friendship K-Pop Concert which was canceled.
