Gwangju NewJeans anniversary event canceled due to copyright complaints

A K-pop event planned around the girl group NewJeans by Gwangju's Dong District was canceled last minute on Thursday, a day before the event was to be held during the weekend from July 19 to 22.

Girl group NewJeans [ADOR]

A K-pop event planned around the girl group NewJeans by Gwangju's Dong District was canceled last minute on Thursday, a day before the event was to be held during the weekend from July 19 to 22.

NewJeans' agency ADOR reportedly lodged a complaint with the Gwangju Dong District Office, arguing that the district office, "[which is] a local government and a public institution, is attempting to use the artists' intellectual property without permission for commercial purposes."

The Dong District Office had planned an anniversary event for the two-year-old girl group at its newly established K-pop Cafe. These cafes cater to K-pop fans by providing a venue to celebrate various anniversaries, including the birthdays of their favorite stars. The district office decided to open a K-pop Cafe at Chungjang-ro in hopes to revitalize the area and originally planned the event to celebrate NewJeans' second anniversary as its inaugural program.

During the program, the cafe planned to feature various items for the girl group's fans, such as albums, posters and postcards, encouraging fans to take pictures and receive additional gifts. Approximately 240 people had reserved tickets to visit the cafe.

"We were inexperienced in handling the copyright issue while promoting this event," said an official from the Dong District Office. "We will ensure that such issues do not arise in future operations of the K-pop Cafe."

To find out more about NewJeans, visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]