Music

BTS forced to cancel Map Of The Soul tour dates in Korea due to coronavirus outbreak


BTS have been forced to cancel four shows (Picture: Cindy Ord/WireImage)

BTS have been forced to cancel a series of tour dates in South Korea due to the spread of coronavirus.

The boys were set to begin their Map Of The Soul tour in April in Seoul, but Big Hit Entertainment has confirmed that the concerts on 11, 12, 18 and 19 April at Olympic Stadium will no longer go ahead.

Over 2,000 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in South Korea, with the majority diagnosed in the city of Daegu, which is about 148 miles away from Seoul.

The agency said: ‘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) 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 cancelled without further delay.’

Over 2,000 cases have been diagnosed in Korea (Picture: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Big Hit added: ‘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 will be refunded.

RM, Jimin, Suga, V, Jin, Jungkook and J-Hope’s US dates, which begin with a show in Santa Clara on 25 April, have not been affected.

The ON singers are set to play London’s Twickenham Stadium on 3 and 4 July.

Green Day have postponed their Asian tour (Picture: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

BTS had already been forced to replace their planned press conference for the release of their album Map Of The Soul: Persona with a live stream without press, while their music show performances in support of the album were said to be being filmed without audiences.

The Korean band aren’t the only artists whose tours are being affected by coronavirus.

Green Day have also confirmed they have been forced to postpone their scheduled tour of Asia, which was due to begin next month.

The band said: ‘We have unfortunately made the difficult decision to postpone our upcoming shows in Asia due to the health + travel concerns with coronavirus.

‘We know if sucks, as we were looking forward to seeing you all, but hold on to your tickets we’ll be announcing the new dates very soon.’

The American Idiot stars had been set to play Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Taipei, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan.

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