Talk about having a crush! In an incident that took place this week in Maharashtra, three teenage girls—two aged 13 and one just 11, hailing from the state’s Dharashiv district—allegedly staged their own kidnapping to fund a journey to South Korea in hopes of meeting members of the globally renowned boy band BTS.
The police tracked the minors to a state transport bus headed to Pune, where they had planned to find work and save up to fund their dream trip. Earlier in 2024, three teenage girls from Tamil Nadu attempted a similar stunt, pooling together '14,000 to travel to South Korea. It would seem that K-pop fever has finally infiltrated even small towns in India.

The Korean pop industry, often referred to as K-pop, is not just a music genre; it’s a meticulously engineered cultural phenomenon. Groups like BTS, Blackpink, EXO and so many more, are not only celebrated for their music but are also idolised as perfect personas, embodying unattainable beauty, charm, and talent. This perfection is no accident—behind every idol is a massive machinery of management companies. Hallyu, which is more commonly known as the K-wave, has swept across India in the last couple of years. K-dramas like Squid Games and Crash Landing on You have gained massive fan bases, K-beauty products are sold out everywhere, and of course, K-pop is bigger than ever. Members of EXO including Suho, Xiumin and Chen, GOT 7’s BamBam, and soloist B.I., who are some of the K-pop industries biggest names, recently performed in different K-festivals in Mumbai.