(WASHINGTON) — A Pentagon spokesperson has confirmed that two U.S. military service members were injured in a rocket attack on al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq earlier Wednesday.
The U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad had confirmed earlier that 14 rockets had been fired towards the base with some landing inside the perimeter.
Separately, a defense official said that the injuries consist of a concussion for one of the service members and an abrasion for the other.
This comes more than a week after White House officials said the U.S. carried out an airstrike near the Iraq-Syria border to target Iran-backed militias and two facilities behind drone attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LONDON) — Haitian President Jovenel Moise was killed in an attack at his home before dawn on Wednesday, the country’s interim premier said.
A group of unidentified individuals raided Moise’s private residence in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, at around 1 a.m. local time. They gunned down the 53-year-old head of state and wounded his wife, Martine Moise, who remains hospitalized, according to a statement from Haitian interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph.
Joseph, who condemned what he called a “hateful, inhumane and barbaric act,” said that the Caribbean country’s national police force and military had the situation under control and declared a state of emergency.
Reaction has been pouring in from around the world condemning the assassination, including from U.S. President Joe Biden, who called the situation “very worrisome.”
Reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, Haiti has also been in the midst of a constitutional crisis as Moise and opposition leaders disputed the end of his five-year presidential term and legislative elections remained interminably delayed.
Addressing the nation in a televised speech, Joseph called on the people of Haiti to “stay calm.” He chaired a meeting of the government’s ministers Wednesday morning, although the country’s line of succession is unclear, especially given its recent political turmoil.
“All the ministers and I have been working since the news broke and we want to assure you we will bring the killers of the president to justice,” he said. “Please stay calm and let the authorities do their work. We don’t want the country to plunge into chaos. This is a very sad day for our nation and for our people.”
Joseph’s initial paper statement said some attackers were speaking Spanish, but a second statement issued in English by the Haitian embassy in Washington made no mention of that. Instead, it said that the group was “highly trained and heavily armed” and called for an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting and an international investigation into the attack.
The streets of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince were largely deserted Wednesday, and Toussaint Louverture International Airport has been closed in the wake of the assassination.
The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince was also closed Wednesday, including for consular services, “due to an ongoing security situation,” it said in a security alert. The embassy also said it is restricting its American staff to its compounds “until further notice” and urged members of the public to avoid unnecessary travel to the area.
U.S. officials are “still gathering information” on the deadly attack, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, offering U.S. assistance “if there’s an investigation. We’re still assessing, still gathering information, and the president of course will be briefed by his national security team this morning.”
Hours later, the White House issued a statement from Biden condemning “this heinous act, and I am sending my sincere wishes for First Lady Moïse’s recovery. The United States offers condolences to the people of Haiti, and we stand ready to assist as we continue to work for a safe and secure Haiti.”
Haiti has been in a state of chaos for months now, with frequent gunfire and street skirmishes between armed groups, political demonstrations and strikes, and a coronavirus wave never brought under control. Cases of the virus were as high last month as they were one year ago, and the country has yet to distribute a single vaccine dose or receive any shipments from COVAX, the international program to provide vaccines to low- and middle-income countries.
That’s in part because of the governing crisis roiling Haiti. The country’s political opposition had argued that Moise’s five-year presidential term ended this February — five years after his election victory, but four years after he took office — while he said he had one more year left because the disputed 2016 election delayed his inauguration until 2017.
Moise had been governing by decree since January 2020, after the country failed to hold legislative elections and the legislature’s mandate expired. Opposition leaders accused him of wanting to return Haiti to a dictatorship.
Earlier this year, Moise ordered the retirement of three Supreme Court judges and the arrest of nearly two dozen people, including prominent officials, who he alleged were plotting a coup. Violent protests against Moise erupted, prompting the president to declare a state of emergency in parts of the country in March.
The political instability in addition to economic woes and escalating gang violence have undermined efforts to rebuild Haiti from a devastating earthquake in 2010 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
While the Biden administration backed Moise’s claim to have one more year in office, it had grown increasingly vocal in its opposition to his “one-man rule,” in the words of the top U.S. diplomat for the Western Hemisphere, including governing by decrees and refusing to hold those legislative elections.
While the White House has said it will provide Haiti some of the initial 80 million COVID-19 vaccines it has promised to share overseas, it has yet to announce when it will do so — with the worsening security situation now making it that much harder.
(LONDON) — Haitian President Jovenel Moise was killed in an attack at his home before dawn on Wednesday, the country’s interim premier said.
A group of unidentified individuals, some of whom spoke Spanish, raided Moise’s private residence in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, at around 1 a.m. local time. They gunned down the head of state and wounded his wife, Martine Moise, who remains hospitalized, according to a statement from Haitian interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph.
Joseph, who condemned what he described as a “hateful, inhumane and barbaric act,” said the Caribbean country’s national police force and military had the situation under control.
The Toussaint Louverture International Airport near Port-au-Prince has been closed in the wake of the deadly attack.
(WASHINGTON) — Hundreds of Afghan troops fled across the country’s northern border to safety, as the Taliban continue a swift offensive to seize districts amid the U.S. military withdrawal.
The rapidly deteriorating security situation has alarmed U.S. officials in Washington, D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, where the government of President Ashraf Ghani is trying to project calm and regroup its forces.
But the Taliban, the militant group that has been at war with the U.S. and Afghan government since the 2001 American invasion, is gaining more territory by the day, ignoring calls for a ceasefire or resumed negotiations.
President Joe Biden has also shown no second thoughts about his decision to withdraw all 2,500 remaining U.S. forces, except for 650 troops that will stay to protect the U.S. embassy and, at least initially, Kabul’s international airport.
That withdrawal is now 90% complete, according to the Pentagon. But although most troops have left, the Department of Defense said the withdrawal won’t be finished until late August.
Amid the Taliban offensive, there’s growing concern about the safety of the U.S. embassy in Kabul, which said it has “well-developed security plans to safely protect our personnel and facilities,” but has “no plans to close.”
There’s also deep concern for the Afghan interpreters, guides and other contractors who worked for the U.S. and now say their lives are at risk from the Taliban. The Biden administration has said it will relocate a group of them out of Afghanistan, but it’s unclear how many, when and to where.
A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News on Friday that the group may be moved to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan — three of Afghanistan’s northern neighbors in Central Asia — but stressed that the planning was still early and no decisions had been made yet.
There are approximately 18,000 Afghans seeking a Special Immigrant Visa, which gives those who worked for the U.S. military or diplomatic mission in Afghanistan and Iraq the chance to move themselves and their families to the U.S. In recent years, the surge in interest and a years-long backlog has put these Afghans’ lives at risk, according to U.S. lawmakers and advocates, who have urged an evacuation to a safe location while their applications are processed.
A senior U.S. administration official declined to provide details on numbers or timing, but told ABC News on Thursday that they had “identified a group of SIV applicants … to be relocated to another location outside of Afghanistan before we complete our military drawdown by September.”
Before those plans get moving, however, more than 1,300 Afghan border police and soldiers crossed the border to Tajikistan to escape the Taliban in recent days, according to local Afghan security sources. The Taliban have seized dozens of districts since Biden’s withdrawal announcement in April and their offensive among northern provinces has resulted in hundreds of Afghan forces surrendering or being killed.
In the last six days, the Taliban have taken control of nearly 10% of Afghanistan’s districts, with nearly half of them now in Taliban control and another third contested between the militants and the government, according to the war monitor the Long War Journal.
Afghan national security adviser Hamdullah Mohib said Tuesday during a press conference that those Afghan forces that fled “are coming back and are once again going to be in the service of the people and in the defense of Faizabad,” the capital of Badakhshan province.
While some of those returns may begin, the rush of refugees across the border alarmed several governments in the region, who have feared a refugee crisis and regional upheaval as the U.S. exits and the Taliban seizes territory and possibly targets Kabul.
Tajikistan mobilized 20,000 military reservists to strengthen security on its southern border with Afghanistan, according to state media, while its president Emomali Rakhmon called both Ghani and Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the “alarming” situation. Russia pledged assistance, according to the Kremlin, including from its enormous and well-armed military base in Tajikistan.
Much of the Afghan-Tajik border is now controlled by the Taliban, which has been collecting revenue from cross-border commerce at their own mobile customs checkpoints on major highways, according to local Afghan security sources.
But despite the Taliban’s major gains on the battlefield, the Biden administration is still refusing to address the declining security situation.
Asked about a Taliban takeover, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday, “That’s a big ‘if,’ that’s a hypothetical and I don’t think it’s helpful for anybody right now to engage in hypothesizing about what might happen months and years from now.”
Over at the State Department, spokesperson Ned Price told reporters, “I am not going to offer an assessment or any sort of feedback of our reaction from here.”
Price also declined to speak to what contingency plans are in place at the U.S. embassy, including shutting down the massive compound and evacuating its 1,400 U.S. staffers. Two former U.S. officials told ABC News that the embassy would be reviewing its emergency evacuation plans with a daily review based on ever-evolving intelligence assessments, especially as more U.S. forces leave Afghanistan and the embassy with a smaller reactionary force to come assist.
“The State Department, the Department of Defense — these are planning organizations. We’re always planning for any contingency,” Price said, declining to offer more details.
Despite growing Taliban control, Price added that it seemed the militant group “understands that only through diplomacy can they garner any sort of legitimacy, can they expect to be accepted by the international community.”
But talks between the Taliban and Afghan government delegations, which met for the first time last September, have yet to yield anything but an agenda. And while some meetings in Doha, Qatar, continue, the peace process is all but dead despite committed paper statements from both sides.
Pressed on that, Price said Tuesday, “Believe me, I’m not out here to offer false hope when it comes to what the Taliban may seek or what they’re up to now.”
(HONG KONG) — American corporate lawyer Samuel Phillip Bickett was given a term of four months and two weeks for assaulting a police officer in Hong Kong during a period of citywide unrest about 18 months ago.
The 37-year-old has been in custody since July 22, when a Hong Kong magistrate found him guilty of assaulting Senior Constable Yu Shu-sang in December 2019. Bickett was denied bail.
Hong Kong magistrate Arthur Lam pointed out that the police officer had sustained multiple injuries and called Bickett’s crime a “serious threat to public order.”
In a statement seen by ABC News, Bickett said he would appeal the “outrageous” verdict and “will not rest until justice is done.” The trial’s outcome, he added, is “entirely unsupportable by both the law and the evidence in this case.”
A State Department spokesperson said the United States was aware of Bickett’s case and that it was working to provide consular assistance: “We take seriously our responsibility to assist U.S. citizens abroad, and are monitoring the situation.”
Bickett, a former compliance director at Bank of America, reportedly was on his way to dinner when he tried to stop a man from attacking a commuter at an underground train station.
That man, it turned out, was an off-duty police officer who said he was using a baton to try to stop a turnstile jumper. At the time, Hong Kong officers were allowed to carry retractable batons during off-the-clock hours because of the ongoing protests.
Bickett claims the officer was threatening commuters and that he intervened in an attempt to prevent someone from getting hurt.
In his statement, Bickett said that in Hong Kong’s judicial system “rulings suggest a willful abandonment of fundamental legal principles by this magistrate, and make me sad for the state of rule of law in this city.”
Bickett’s case takes place amid a tense political backdrop. There have been a slew of arrests and prosecutions since last summer when Beijing imposed a national security law in the city, where crackdowns have affected a number of key sectors.
Last month, the city’s only remaining opposition newspaper, Apple Daily, was forced to close after the government froze its assets and arrested a handful of executives.
On Wednesday, Amnesty International said that Hong Kong is “on a rapid path to becoming a police state.”
The remarks came after the city’s former security secretary, John Lee, was promoted to Hong Kong’s second-highest job, while Lee’s post was handed over to police head Chris Tang.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam repeatedly has denied that the former colony’s freedoms and autonomy — meant to be guaranteed when the U.K. handed it back to China in 1997 — are being diminished.
But whether that assurance is enough for the American and international businesses, families and individuals who remain in Hong Kong remains to be seen.
American Chamber of Commerce President Tara Joseph said, “These are sensitive times for American business in Hong Kong, wrestling not just with the National Security Law but also heightened U.S.-China tensions and strict COVID travel restrictions.”
A survey of members conducted by the chamber in May indicated that some 42% are considering leaving, but, as Joseph noted, Hong Kong remains a vital economic center: “For many sectors, Hong Kong remains an important business hub. Many companies will try to adjust to a new normal.”
(NEW YORK) — Pope Francis is recovering after undergoing a planned surgical operation for diverticular stenosis, which is an intestinal procedure on the colon.
“His Holiness Pope Francis is in good general condition, alert and breathing on his own,” said a statement released by the Holy See Press Office on Monday.
The surgery lasted about three hours and involved a hemicolectomy — which is the removal of part of the colon, the statement said. The Holy See also said Monday he is expected to stay at the hospital for about a week barring any complications.
The surgery was done on the evening of July 4 after the Pope was hospitalized Sunday afternoon at the Policlinico A. Gemelli hospital in Rome, according to a previous statement.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is praying for the current pope’s recovery, the retired pope’s secretary said Monday on Italian TV channel Mediaset.
Earlier Sunday, Pope Francis announced that he will visit Slovakia in September after a brief stop in the Hungarian capital of Budapest.
It will be the Pope’s second trip outside Italy this year after trips planned in 2020 were cancelled due to COVID-19.
(LONDON) — The Duchess of Cambridge is self-isolating at home after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
“Last week The Duchess of Cambridge came into contact with someone who has subsequently tested positive for COVID-19,” Kensington Palace said in a statement. “Her Royal Highness is not experiencing any symptoms, but is following all relevant government guidelines and is self-isolating at home.”
Duchess Kate was alerted by Britain’s National Health Service after visiting a site where someone tested positive and is following official protocol to self-isolate for 10 days.
The Duchess of Cambridge was due to join her husband, Prince William, at an event to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of Britain’s National Health Service on Monday, but had to cancel.
The duchess has had a busy month of royal engagements. On Friday, she attended Wimbledon and toured the grounds. Last week, she also attended a soccer match at Wembley stadium with William and their eldest son, Prince George.
Prince William and Prince Charles contracted COVID-19 in the spring of 2020.
Britain is dealing with a surge in COVID-19 cases due to the highly-transmissible delta variant. After instituting strict lockdowns to control the virus, the government has been easing back restrictions since March and pushing forward with vaccination efforts.
The royal family has been doing their part to encourage vaccinations. In January, Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth II received her COVID-19 vaccines, which were administered by a doctor at Windsor Castle.
(NEW YORK) — For decades, beginning in the 1800s, thousands of Indigenous peoples from Canada were taken from their homes and families by the Canadian government, shipped thousands of miles away in some cases and placed into so-called residential schools.
The stated purpose of the schools, some of which date to the 19th century and the last of which closed in the 1990s, was assimilation — ridding the students of ties to their communities and instilling European culture, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC).
There were reports from the TRC — a commission funded by the Canadian government as part of a legal settlement to address the wrongs of the system — of thousands of instances of abuse and mistreatment against students and many of the students did not make it back to their homes in what advocates for the Indigenous population and officials alternately term “injustice,” “systemic racism” or even “genocide.”
There have recently been a number of reminders of that grim past — one which advocates say continues to haunt Indigenous communities.
Another 182 sets of human remains were found on June 30 near the former St. Eugene’s Mission School for Indigenous children in the community of Aqam, bringing the total found in the country in recent days to nearly 1,000.
A week earlier, 751 unmarked graves were found at the cemetery of the former Marieval Indian Residential School. It is unclear how many of the students died or what the causes of death were.
“It’s opened fresh wounds for a number of people,” said David Pratt, the second vice-chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations. FSIN is an advocacy organization that represents 74 First Nations in the implementation of treaties that protect Indigenous people and land.
The site at Marieval has the largest number of graves connected to a residential school discovered in Canada so far, according to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), which archives and compiles the complete history of Canada’s residential school system.
In a June 24 statement, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent his condolences to Indigenous groups across the country following the Marieval discovery.
“They are a shameful reminder of the systemic racism, discrimination, and injustice that Indigenous peoples have faced – and continue to face – in this country,” the statement read. “Together, we must acknowledge this truth, learn from our past, and walk the shared path of reconciliation, so we can build a better future.”
However, Stephanie Scott, executive director of the NCTR, said that these problems continue to harm Indigenous communities to this day.
“The residential school system has impacted generations,” Scott said. “Take action, take responsibility to learn the true history, seek out survivors and indigenous people and start that dialogue.”
What are residential schools?
What are residential schools? In a 2015 report, the NCTR said there had been 150,000 First Nation, Métis and Inuit students in the residential school system. The first schools of this kind were formed in the 1860s and lasted all the way until the final school, Gordon Indian Residential School, closed in the late 1990s.
About 139 Indian residential schools were identified in the 2006 Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement.
For decades, Indigenous children in both Canada and the United States were taken from their families and sent to boarding schools, sometimes thousands of miles away, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
Scott, whose mother was a student in one of these schools, said that many students were beaten and abused for speaking their language or practicing Indigenous traditions. She said there have been reports of physical and sexual abuse, neglect, and illness.
“We’ve even heard stories about young girls getting pregnant and the children being born and putting into incinerators,” Scott said. “We’ve heard stories of children being hidden in walls. We went to the community one time where there was a caretaker’s house where we found this strap that was covered in blood.”
The official report from TRC reiterates stories of children being strapped, beaten, and forced into crawl spaces.
Scott said her mother got pregnant while attending the residential schools, and child welfare authorities took her away.
“I was adopted out yeah into a community with that forced assimilation and those policies where I didn’t have access to my culture and community,” Scott said. “I grew up without my language.”
Why are there so many unmarked graves?
Many students never returned home from the schools, according to the NCTR. The NCTR reports that the deaths of more than 4,000 children have been connected to residential schools, as graves of young children continue to be uncovered — but Scott said that there are likely more left to be found.
Researchers have been used ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to discover unmarked burials, like the St. Eugene’s Mission School and the Marieval Indian Residential School.
In May, researchers also found the remains of 215 students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. Some children buried onsite had been as young as 3 years old.
The NCTR has found that many of the children died from illness and malnourishment, among other causes. Scott said she’s heard stories from old school attendees who claimed illnesses and injuries went untreated.
It is unclear how all of the children have died, and who they were.
For many, the discovery of graves is a time of grief, as many can remember the days when residential schools were still around. Pratt said the discoveries of unmarked graves bring up a lot of emotion, trauma and heartbreak for those who’ve been lost and called on the Canadian government and the Roman Catholic Church to help.
“They need to apologize and they need to take responsibility and ownership on the trauma and the chaos they’ve caused amongst indigenous peoples of this land,” Pratt said.
Who has taken responsibility for these?
The residential schools were run by the Canadian government, the department of Indian Affairs and churches, including the Roman Catholic Church at various points in their histories, which has been connected with the recent unmarked grave discoveries.
The St. Eugene’s Mission School, for instance, was operated by the Roman Catholic Church from 1912 to 1970. The Marieval Indian Residential School was also run by the Church from 1899 to 1997.
The Kamloops Indian Residential School was run by the Church until the late 60s when it was taken over by the federal government.
Pope Francis plans to meet in December with Indigenous survivors of the residential school system from the First Nations, Metis and Inuit groups.
But the Roman Catholic Church has yet to issue a statement on the discoveries. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comments.
According to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, the United States also had more than 350 government-funded boarding schools across the US.
In 2000, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin Gover apologized for the trauma and violence against children at the American residential schools.
Trudeau, in his recent statement following the discovery of the Marieval graves, said he promised to help Indigenous people in Canada heal.
“The government will continue to provide Indigenous communities across the country with the funding and resources they need to bring these terrible wrongs to light,” the statement read. “While we cannot bring back those who were lost, we can – and we will – tell the truth of these injustices, and we will forever honour their memory.”
In the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history, reached in 2007, Canada promised funding, support, and the formation of federal commissions to help the community heal. The settlement of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement was a step, activists say, but many are demanding stronger action.
High incarceration rates, poverty, addiction, trauma, and climate change have plagued Indigenous communities, and Pratt links them to the lasting effects of residential schools.
Scott agreed, saying the unmarked graves have opened up an opportunity to discuss what Indigenous communities are owed and what they continue to experience as a community. Scott said education and dialogue about these atrocities are just the first steps.
“Canada must claim responsibility for the genocide and it has to show a commitment to sharing these truths with all people in Canada,” Scott said.
(HONG KONG) — An American corporate lawyer convicted of assaulting a police officer in Hong Kong during a period of citywide unrest about 18 months ago is to be sentenced July 6.
Samuel Phillip Bickett, 37, has been in custody since July 22, when a Hong Kong magistrate found him guilty of assaulting Senior Constable Yu Shu-sang in December 2019. Bickett was denied bail.
In a statement seen by ABC News, Bickett said he would appeal the “outrageous” verdict and “will not rest until justice is done.” The trial’s outcome, he added, is “entirely unsupportable by both the law and the evidence in this case.”
A State Department spokesperson said the United States was aware of Bickett’s case and that it was working to provide consular assistance: “We take seriously our responsibility to assist U.S. citizens abroad, and are monitoring the situation.”
Bickett, a former compliance director at Bank of America, reportedly was on his way to dinner when he tried to stop a man from attacking a commuter at an underground train station.
That man, it turned out, was an off-duty police officer who said he was using a baton to try to stop a turnstile jumper. At the time, Hong Kong officers were allowed to carry retractable batons during off-the-clock hours because of the ongoing protests.
Bickett claims the officer was threatening commuters and that he intervened in an attempt to prevent someone from getting hurt.
In his statement, Bickett said that in Hong Kong’s judicial system “rulings suggest a willful abandonment of fundamental legal principles by this magistrate, and make me sad for the state of rule of law in this city.”
Bickett’s case takes place amid a tense political backdrop. There have been a slew of arrests and prosecutions since last summer when Beijing imposed a national security law in the city, where crackdowns have affected a number of key sectors.
Last month, the city’s only remaining opposition newspaper, Apple Daily, was forced to close after the government froze its assets and arrested a handful of executives.
On Wednesday, Amnesty International said that Hong Kong is “on a rapid path to becoming a police state.”
The remarks came after the city’s former security secretary, John Lee, was promoted to Hong Kong’s second-highest job, while Lee’s post was handed over to police head Chris Tang.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam repeatedly has denied that the former colony’s freedoms and autonomy — meant to be guaranteed when the U.K. handed it back to China in 1997 — are being diminished.
But whether that assurance is enough for the American and international businesses, families and individuals who remain in Hong Kong remains to be seen.
“These are sensitive times for American business in Hong Kong,” said American Chamber of Commerce President Tara Joseph. City leaders are “wrestling not just with the National Security Law but also heightened U.S.-China tensions and strict COVID travel restrictions.”
A survey of members conducted by the chamber in May indicated that some 42% are considering leaving, but, as Joseph noted, Hong Kong remains a vital economic center: “For many sectors, Hong Kong remains an important business hub. Many companies will try to adjust to a new normal.”
(SEOUL, South Korea) — Dozens of children repeat after their instructor’s dance moves to K-pop group NCT Dream’s latest song “Hot Sauce,” as sweat drips from their foreheads.
These children, all around 8 years old, are intensely following their instructor’s every move as their parents’ watch and cheer on their sons in a K-pop dance class for elementary school kids at a dance studio located in the wealthy streets of the Gangnam district in Seoul, South Korea.
K-pop’s growing global presence — and subsequent success — in the music industry has led to a national recognition in South Korea of K-pop as a potential growth industry, alongside the likes of semiconductors and IT that South Korea has proven to be globally competitive.
When K-pop boy band BTS topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart last summer with their first all-English single “Dynamite,” South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism published an analysis report estimating that the economic ripple effect of the song “Dynamite” alone earned up to $1.5 billion for the country.
“The technical innovation of online concerts, and the growing K-pop fandom will have strong economic impact. When the K-pop industry grows, it inevitably leads to a need for more jobs in the industry,” Park Chanuk of the Cultural Industry Research Center at the Korea Culture & Tourism Institute, told ABC News.
With prospects brighter than ever, parents, and even schools, are now jumping onto the bandwagon for an opportunity of a potentially promising career for their children. Parents waiting for their children’s K-pop dance class to finish at the Shine Dance Academy in Gangnam say their boys and girls deserve a chance to discover their talents early on.
“I think if my son wanted to be a K-pop star, I’d like to see that,” Xing Mei, a Chinese mom who was a fan of the first generation K-pop group H.O.T., told ABC News as she was filming her son throughout the class. “But it’s up to him whether he’ll make it or not.”
Another parent told ABC News that he saw a lot of potential for the K-pop industry globally, and that he wanted to let his son have all possibilities open, including the possibility of becoming a K-pop celebrity like BTS, Blackpink and EXO.
“I think the perspective has changed a lot from less than 10 years ago,” Calvin Kang, father to a 9-year-old boy, told ABC News. “Many parents didn’t want their kids to be an entertainer in the past but now, after the success of K-pop, I think that a lot of parents introduce their kids to K-pop dancing and singing.”
The Shine Dance Academy, which claims it is the first and largest K-pop dance academy for kids in South Korea, explained that more children have shown interest in their program after the success of BTS in the global market.
“Parents are really serious about this,” dance instructor Joe Song told ABC News. “It’s not cheap to have kids take K-pop dance classes from an early age, and it takes that commitment for both kids and parents to actually do this.”
The accelerated popularity of K-pop has even pushed schools to create classes for their students.
Kwangchon High School, a small school of only 76 students in the rural town of Chungnam Province, was quick to adapt to this rising demand and, with permission from the Chungnam Province Office of Education, the school restructured its curriculum to specialize in “all things K-pop,” — even renaming the school to the High School of Korean Pop and Performing Arts.
Here, teenagers take classes such as musical instruments, live performance practice, second language and concert drills which are considered crucial to being on the path to become a star entertainer.
“The goal is not to nurture K-pop celebrities,” Principal Park Boyung Gyu of the K-pop high school told ABC News. “We aim to let students find their strengths so they can take part in the millions of job opportunities surrounding the globally expanding K-pop industry.”
The High School of Korean Pop and Performing Arts received over 10 million dollars’ worth of investments in its facilities from its local government and education offices.
The Chungnam province education office paid for the school’s K-pop changeover expense as well as for new instruments in the hopes that the school will become a landmark for K-pop in South Korea. All lessons, including professional K-pop dance and song writing classes using music editing software, are free of charge at the school and the 124 attending students only have to pay for their dormitory and commute.
“Considering the limitless potential of the K-pop industry, we are investing in the school hoping the city will become a mecca to train workforce for the growing K-pop industry,” Jeong Dae-hoe, vice commissioner from the Chungnam province education office, explained to ABC News.
More than a dozen colleges in South Korea that used to teach classical music and dance are beginning to adopt K-pop as part of its formal education curriculum as an increasing number of the younger generation aim to be part of the multi-billion-dollar industry in order to train young talent who could eventually take on jobs like producers, music writers, choreographers or production staff.
“There’s a greater added value to K-pop, not just from the music and contents itself, but K-pop’s impact on products and services provided by general companies,” K-pop columnist Kim Hern-sik told ABC News. “K-pop also has a positive effect on South Korea’s brand image, therefore resulting in an economic effect that cannot be calculated.”
