The inaugural Eurovision Song Contest Asia will take place at One Bangkok Forum in Thailand, starting at 10:30 p.m. Korean time. The event will be broadcast live on participating television networks, including South Korea's ENA, and streamed worldwide on YouTube.
The two-and-a-half-hour competition will feature artists from South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia and Nepal.
South Korea will be represented by K-pop singer Junhee, a former leader of boy band A.C.E, who debuted in 2017 and now pursues a solo career.
Junhee secured his place in the competition after winning the Korean national selection, "Korea's Next Wave," on Sept. 4, beating seven other contestants.
His entry, "DEEP DIVE," combines electronic dance music, hip-hop and R&B. The song was co-written with K-pop singer AleXa, who won the American Song Contest, a U.S. adaptation of Eurovision, in 2022.
"I thought that if a singer is representing Korea, people abroad are definitely going to expect K-pop," Junhee told The Guardian ahead of the competition.
Other contestants include Vietnamese pop star Toc Tien, Bangladesh's a cappella beatbox group Beatmosphere and Philippine singer Carmelle, whose song "Sobra-Sobra" promotes female empowerment.
The competition will follow Eurovision's traditional voting system, with national juries accounting for 50 percent of the results and public votes determining the remaining half. Viewers cannot vote for their own country, while international audiences outside the participating nations can also cast ballots.
The Asian debut marks a major expansion for one of the world's longest-running televised music competitions.
The inaugural contest featured seven countries. Over the following decades, it became a major cultural event, helping launch the international careers of Swedish pop group ABBA, which won in 1974, and Canadian singer Celine Dion, who represented Switzerland in 1988.
Known for elaborate stage productions, unconventional performances and national rivalries, Eurovision has also become a platform where music and politics frequently intersect.
The competition attracted 131 million television viewers across 35 markets in 2026, down from 166 million in 2025, according to the EBU.
The decline came amid a boycott by five countries over Israel's continued participation, underscoring the political tensions surrounding the event.
For Eurovision's organizers, Asia offers an opportunity to reach a new audience across a region with more than 600 million potential viewers.
But the expansion has encountered challenges.
The event has reportedly struggled with sluggish ticket sales, while major Asian markets, including China, Japan and India, are absent from the inaugural lineup.
Tickets for the final were priced between $50 and $199, depending on seating categories.
Financial difficulties have also complicated preparations. Eurovisionworld reported in October that a $1 million budget reduction had triggered disagreements between international production staff and local organizers, resulting in changes to technical teams and stage production plans.
Organizers subsequently insisted the competition would proceed as scheduled, although they did not directly address the reported budget cut.
Despite the challenges, organizers remain optimistic about the competition's future.
Executive producer Assaf Blecher said 16 or 17 countries and territories had expressed interest in participating in a possible 2027 edition, including China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The debut will test whether a music competition that helped connect postwar Europe can establish a similarly lasting cultural platform across Asia.
Kim Hee-su
Kim Hee-su is a bilingual reporter at AJU Press, covering defense and foreign affairs. Before joining AJP in 2025, she worked at The Korea Times, where she wrote interview stories, including a profile of North Korean defector Kim Gum-hyok, and produced digital content. She also previously worked as a researcher for KBS News 9’s International News Department, supporting correspondents in 10 countries around the world. She graduated from the University of Toronto in Canada with a double major in Book and Media Studies and East Asian Studies.
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