SEOUL, South Korea — K-pop group aespa and other South Korean pop stars announce massive donations to support victims Fire in an apartment in Hong Kong One of the city's deadliest fires killed at least 128 people.
Women's group Aespa said they will donate HK$500,000 (US$64,000) to the Hong Kong Red Cross, according to a post on their official Weibo account. “We express our deepest sorrow at this heartbreaking news,” the band said.
Stray Kids pledged HK$1 million ($129,000) through World Vision Hong Kong for temporary housing and other support for affected children and residents. “We were all very heartbroken when we heard the sad news from Hong Kong,” the group said.
SM and JYP Entertainment, two of South Korea's largest entertainment companies, donated a total of HK$3 million (US$385,000) to disaster relief and recovery efforts.
Other K-pop groups who also pledged donations included boy bands Riize, EXO-CBX and KickFlip, who donated HK$100,000 ($12,900) through World Vision Hong Kong.
Organizers of the MAMA AWARDS, the annual two-day K-pop awards ceremony scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Hong Kong, have faced online criticism in South Korea for not canceling the event in light of the fire tragedy.
South Korean entertainment company CJ E&M canceled red carpet events on both days but said the main ceremony would go on.
“We express our deepest condolences to those who lost their lives in the Hong Kong fire,” CJ E said.&M said in a statement. The company said the awards will include a “Support Hong Kong” message and will include time for mourning. Organizers also pledged to donate HK$20 million ($2.6 million) to a support fund set up by the Hong Kong government.
“We believe in the healing and solidarity power of music,” the statement said.
