BTS's upcoming world tour is marred by illegal ticket sales in China, prompting concerns over fan rights and ticketing integrity.

As BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan) is about to embark on their tour, illegal activities by some Chinese vendors and prospective audience members have been confirmed. BTS made a comeback on March 20 with their new album "ARIRANG" and will kick off a large-scale world tour at the Goyang Comprehensive Stadium in Korea on April 9. Following that, they will perform at the Tokyo Dome in Japan on April 17, and then expand to a total of 34 cities and 82 performances across North America, Europe, South America, and Asia. This is the highest number of performances for a solo tour by a K-POP artist. Additional performances in Japan and the Middle East have also been announced, indicating an expansion of the tour scale. Amidst this, local vendors promoting dark ticket sales have been rampant on Chinese ticket trading platforms. Furthermore, some locals are recruiting members in private group chat rooms, claiming that they can watch BTS's performance at the Goyang Comprehensive Stadium for 3 yuan (about 60 yen). Those present at the venue are illegally live-streaming the performance via mobile phones and sharing it through the group chat rooms. Previously, SEVENTEEN and their fans suffered from "illegal ticketing damage" when overseas vendors, including those from China, bought up more than half of the tickets during the pre-sale for their solo concert held on February 1 and 2 last year. In response, SEVENTEEN did not remain silent, stating, "We recognize the seriousness of illegal ticket transactions and will strictly address them to protect the rights of our fans. We are currently monitoring the pre-sold tickets for any abnormal access through our internal monitoring system, and measures such as cancellation of reservations and restrictions on future reservations will be taken for any reservations found to have abnormal access." They also quickly issued an official comment, stating, "We will do our best to provide updates on the situation as soon as possible after thorough verification." Ultimately, SEVENTEEN announced that they would proceed with the cancellation of reservations for tickets confirmed to be illegally accessed through internal monitoring, and that the relevant reservation IDs would be subject to future reservation restrictions. They also added a performance on January 31, expanding the scale. Girl's Day's Hae-ri held her first solo fan meeting last June. After the pre-sale, numerous illegal ticketing suspicions involving domestic and overseas vendors were discovered, leading to voices of fans who could not obtain tickets. Hae-ri's agency attracted attention with their proactive response. They communicated through official SNS that "fan meeting tickets are sold exclusively through Ticket Link, and no tickets are sold through other channels. Tickets purchased through personal transactions or internet second-hand trading sites without going through the official reservation sales channels will be canceled and refunded." They also stated, "The responsibility for damages from direct transactions between individuals lies entirely with the parties involved, and the event organizers and reservation sales entities bear no responsibility. Illegal ticket transactions will be canceled without prior notice at the discretion of the organizers. Illegal ticket transactions are continuously monitored by the organizers, and reports of illegal transactions are accepted via official email." They continued by addressing the illegal pre-sale by overseas vendors such as those from China, stating, "Global reservation tickets can only be received on-site on the day of the event after verifying the reservation breakdown (print or mobile) and valid identification of the ticket purchaser." They warned, "If multiple accounts are used to purchase a maximum of two tickets per person, tickets will not be issued after strict identity verification. Reservations for seats not directly used by the individual should be canceled. Additionally, if multiple accounts are used under the same name or contact information, reservations may be canceled during the internal verification process." *This article is based on interviews with local media.