K-EXPO USA Is Taking Over L.A. LIVE This Weekend — Here's Everything You Need to Know

Korean culture is having its biggest LA moment yet. K-EXPO USA lands at L.A. LIVE this Saturday and Sunday, May 23–24, and it's free to attend — with a concert closer that's very much not.

What It Is

K-EXPO USA is a government-backed celebration of Korean culture and industry, sponsored by South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and coordinated by the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA). After stops in Canada, Spain, and the UAE, the expo makes its U.S. debut in downtown Los Angeles, with organizers expecting more than 40,000 attendees and around 126 participating companies.

The free exhibition runs both days from 10 AM to 6 PM on the Event Deck at L.A. LIVE. It spans K-beauty, K-food, fashion, wellness, tech, and lifestyle — the full spectrum of what's been driving Korean cultural export for the past decade.

K- Expo 2026

What to Expect on the Floor

K-Expo exhibition booth

The expo floor is built for discovery. Beauty brands Jung Saem Mool and Daniel's Truth will have interactive booths, and food brands BBQ Chicken and Nongshim are both showing up with tastings. Nongshim's booth recreates the "Han River Ramyun" experience — the iconic Korean tradition of eating instant noodles by the riverside — which is either peak nostalgia or the most accurate distillation of current K-culture energy, depending on who you ask. There are also AI-powered tech activations and fashion showcases drawing on traditional hanbok aesthetics.

The Sunday Night Concert

The weekend crescendos on Sunday at 6 PM inside the Peacock Theater with a proper ticketed concert. The lineup:

• Jay Park — Korean American hip-hop and R&B icon, a figure who bridged the two cultures long before it was trendy

• P1Harmony — K-pop group fresh off a No. 4 peak on the Billboard 200

• LNGSHOT — the rising act on the bill, described as the next wave of K-pop globally

• Kukkiwon Taekwondo Demonstration Team — runners-up on CBS's The World's Best, bringing a performance discipline that doesn't get nearly enough spotlight

• K-POP Cover Dance Festival USA Champion

Tickets start around $63 and are nearly sold out.

Worth Noting

This event is a genuinely good time, but it's worth naming what it is: a soft-power vehicle with real government funding behind it. That's not a reason to skip it — the programming is legitimately fun and the free expo is a low-barrier entry point for anyone curious about Korean culture. But the Korean American and broader Asian American communities who've been riding Hallyu for decades aren't just consumers of this export machine; they're co-authors of it. The best moments this weekend will probably be in the crowd, not on the stage.

K-EXPO USA Exhibition: May 23–24, 10 AM–6 PM | L.A. LIVE Event Deck | Free K-POP Concert: May 24, 6 PM | Peacock Theater | Tickets from $63

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Read more about the Asian American Experience on 88tumble.com/explore