Mexico’s president asks South Korea for more BTS concerts: ‘Everyone wants to go’ | BTS

High demand to see the K-pop band BTS has led Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to formally request her counterpart, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, to help arrange more concerts in Mexico.

“Everyone wants to go,” Sheinbaum said at her daily morning news conference on Monday, adding that she had sent a diplomatic message to Lee of South Korea requesting more concerts.

“About a million young people want to buy tickets, but there are only 150,000 tickets available,” she said.

The chart-topping boy band is set to embark on a world tour in April, shortly after releasing their first new album in three years, Arirang. The group has been on hiatus since 2022 while its members performed mandatory military service in South Korea.

The new tour has sparked a global scramble for tickets, especially in Mexico, one of K-pop’s biggest fan bases, where only three concerts are scheduled. Many people missed the initial rush and others complained to the consumer watchdog about problems with sales.

Mexico’s consumer watchdog said it has launched an investigation into Ticketmaster and is imposing sanctions on resale platforms StubHub and Viagogo for “abusive and insincere practices” regarding BTS’ ticketing process, without giving further details.

Tickets were sold on Ticketmaster from about 1,800 pesos to as much as 17,800 pesos for VIP tickets (about $100 to $1,030), but on resale platforms on Monday tickets were sold from 11,300 to 92,100 pesos (more than $5,300).

The companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The watchdog said it would help establish new guidelines to better regulate ticket sales for concerts and festivals, with prices and locations set before tickets are issued.

Ticketmaster, which is owned by Live Nation Entertainment, has faced other controversies in Mexico, including in 2022 when it reimbursed customers about $1 million after more than a thousand fans reported being denied access to Bad Bunny’s concert at Mexico’s Estadio Azteca.

At the time, Ticketmaster criticized vendors and fraudulent ticket resellers and called for stronger oversight measures.

BTS’s new album is scheduled to be released in March, and the world tour will begin in Goyang, South Korea, on April 9. The three currently scheduled concerts in Mexico, all at Mexico City’s GNP Seguros Stadium, will take place from May 7-10.