Kaamaakshi Bhat (Zirakpur, Punjab), Riya Choudhary (New Delhi) Jubby Kumar (Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh), Suhasini Singh (Pune, Maharashtra), Shalini Roy (Kolkata, West Bengal)

Mokkoji literally means a gathering or meeting where people meet for games, parties, and other occasions. MOKKOJI KOREA is a global Hallyu fest organized by the Korean Foundation for International Culture Exchange and hosted by the MCST (Ministry of Culture, Sport, and Tourism). The aim is to gather all the Korean culture lovers around the globe and help them experience the beauty of Korean culture and also let Korean people experience other cultures around the world.

Even during the Covid-19 crisis MOKKOJI KOREA 2020 was successfully held in Kazakhstan, the Philippines, and Myanmar, starring top K-pop stars Super Junior, Lovelyz, and Teentop. In 2021 MOKKOJI KOREA concentrates on 3 countries- Russia, India, and Indonesia.

The events for Indian fans were held from 4th October to 10th October with many amazing events like Talks with K-pop stars and Indian influencers who taught us about Korean Culture. The brand exhibition where viewers discovered Korean Brands and products in India. Mokkoji Live was on air for worldwide fans on MOKKOJI’s YouTube channel where local Hallyu fans enjoyed Online Fan meetings and live talk concerts with AB6IX, MONSTA X, and PENTAGON. 

Part 1: AB6IX 

The Mokkoji Live started with group AB6IX who made their entry with the performance of their new song Cherry. AB6IX is a 4 member group that consists of Woong, Donghyun, Woojin, and Daehwi. After the performance, they greeted everyone and gave their thoughts about their new album. They are one of the self-produced artists in the industry. They debuted on May 22, 2019, under Brand New Music. 

The live was hosted by MC Lisa Kelly and Nidhi Agrawal. Many ABNEW (fandom of AB6IX) who joined the live, showed their love and support to AB6IX by holding supportive banners. Also, AB6IX had an interaction with one fan from India and after that, they introduced the national sport of Korea, Taekwondo to the viewers. They performed some Taekwondo moves with one Taekwondo Choreographer Park Seong-ho and everyone learned some Taekwondo moves. Later AB6IX performed the techniques/moves on their song Cherry. After that, they experienced Yoga and did some Yoga moves such as Padmasana, Paripurna Navasana, Dhanurasana, and Halasan along with the MC Nidhi. It was lovely seeing them saying I love you in Hindi as “Mujhe tumse pyaar hai” and bringing smiles to everyone’s faces. They concluded Part 1 of Mokkoji live with their performance on Do You Remember which is one of the tracks from their newest album Mo’ Complete.

Part 2 of the fan meeting starred artist Pentagon. Pentagon is a 9 member K-pop boy group comprising Hui, Jinho, Hongseok, Shinwon, Yeoone, Yanan, Yuto, Kino, and Wooseok under Cube Entertainment who debuted on October 10, 2016, with their self-titled mini album and title track “Gorilla.” Though Pentagon is a 9 member group only 5 members were present during the live show since the 2 older members are in the military and 2 foreign members are doing solo activities in their native countries.

Pentagon celebrated their 5th Debut anniversary on Mokkoji Live with their fans, Universe. They performed Baby I love You, a B sidetrack from their 11th mini-album “Love or Take” at the starting of their section of the live. Many universes prepared banners and slogans wishing them Happy 5th Debut Anniversary. Mokkoji had prepared a cake for the celebration and the hosts sang a Happy Birthday song to Pentagon. There was a quiz by Mokkoji Korea on Korean traditional medicine where Pentagon members had to answer their questions and as a reward, they had to drink Korean Herbal tea.

Two Indian Universe also had a chance to speak to Pentagon during the live. One of them congratulated Pentagon on their anniversary and asked them to sing Shine as a request. Second Universe also wished them Happy Anniversary and taught them about Ayurveda telling them more about Indian culture. The hosts also explained to them about the breathing exercise which helps decrease stress. After Pentagon did the breathing exercise explained by the hosts the fan said a short message to Pentagon congratulating them for their debut anniversary and also mentioned the contribution made by the Indian Universe to WWF India for Conservation of Royal Bengal Tiger on the occasion of their debut anniversary. Pentagon concluded the live by performing Do or Not which was their recent comeback.

Part 3 : MONSTA X 

The last K-pop group in the line-up was MONSTA X. MONSTA X (몬스타엑스) is a K-pop boy band with six members, Shownu, Minhyuk, Kihyun, Hyungwon, Joohoney and I.M under Starship Entertainment. MONSTA X originally had 7 members but one of the members, Wonho, left the group in the year 2019.  MONSTA X was formed through the Survival Show “No Mercy.” The group debuted on 14th May in the year 2015 with “Trespass.”

MOKKOJI KOREA India week witnessed the charming presence of the MONSTA X members. The leader of the band, Shownu, however, couldn’t attend the fan-meet due to his military service. The fan-meet began with the group performing the title song “Gambler” from their ninth mini-album. 

After introducing themselves in brief Hyung-won hinted what was the topic of discussion on their segment of the Mokkoji Korea event by showing the flashcards with Korean words U-yu (milk) and changing it to A-ya (meaning ouch). After the fans and the MCs congratulated Joo-hoen a happy birthday which was on 6th October the focus was finally shifted to the celebration of the Hangeul Day or the Hangeul Proclamation Day. The Hangeul Proclamation Day is a national holiday in South Korea that falls on 10th October every year. Hanguel’s system of writing was introduced by King Sejong of the 4th Joseon Dynasty which is still followed to the present day. The maknae of MONSTA X Changkyun also known as I.M performed the Hangeul dance.

Hanguel and Hindi Calligraphy

Moving on, Monsta X members wrote the Hangeul words which they want their fans to learn. They made flashcards with Korean Calligraphy. Min-hyuk and Ki-hyun wrote 하늘 (haneul) which means Sky in Korean. Hyung-won and IM wrote 마음 (ma-eum) which means Heart and Joo-honey wrote 천사 (cheonsa) which means Angel indicating that he considers his fans as Angels. Then it was the turn of the Monsta X members to learn some Hindi words. All the members insisted on learning how to write “Monbebe” (the official name of MonstaX’s fans) in Hindi. They also made Hindi calligraphy cards. Min-hyuk wrote Mokkoji which means बैठक (baithak) in Hindi. Ki-hyun wrote Friend दोस्त (dost). Hyung-won tried writing “Monbebe is my dream” in Hindi मोनबेबे मेरा सपना है (monbebe mera sapana hai). Joo-honey wrote आशा, प्यार (Hope, Love). IM wrote Monbebe, Love (मोनबेबे, प्यार). Lastly, the Monbebes got to see MonstaX ‘s cute side when a fan requested them to do Aegyo.

Overall Experience

Mokkoji live was an amazing experience for the fans residing in India. We got to experience our favorite artist’s performances along with some in-event cultural activities that made live fun-filled with knowledge. The fans of AB6IX, PENTAGON & MONSTA X got to see and meet their favorites on-screen and live. It was quite memorable for Indian fans because the artists experienced something about our culture too such as Yoga Asanas, wrote Hindi words, and also said we love you in Hindi. It was lovely seeing the fans holding supportive banners for their favorite artists and some of them went crazy seeing them on-screen behind their favorite artists. We just hope the COVID-19 situation gets a little better and we get to enjoy such events offline.

Conclusion

Apart from performances and mini-talks Mokkoji Korea also had some exciting events by participating in which the fans from all over the globe can grab great prizes. The fans can win the autographed Albums signed by AB6IX, Pentagon, and Monsta X by just posting their screenshots of watching the Mokkoji Korea India Live with the required hashtags on their respective SNS’ accounts. By commenting on their impressions about the Mokkoji Live India the fans can win unique gifts prepared by the AB6IX, Pentagon, and Monsta X themselves. The prizes include:

1. Taekwondo grade belts signed by AB6IX

2. Herbal tea and autographed albums by Pentagon.

3. The Hangeul and Hindi Calligraphy cards made by Monsta X.

You can learn more about Mokkoji Events here:

Mokkoji Website: https://www.mokkojikorea.com/

Youtube Live Mokkoji: https://youtu.be/ltzH_5_U9-Q

Mokkoji Insta: https://www.instagram.com/mokkojikorea/?hl=en

You can watch MOKKOJI Live: India here: