About 90,000 spectators gathered at BTS's Paris concert, and France's President Macron and his wife watched it, Chosun Ilbo reported.

The concert reaffirmed the standing of Korean pop music in Europe. Beyond the tens of thousands at a vast outdoor stage, the host nation's first couple attending in person gave the event a meaning beyond a cultural show.

The Korean Wave is expanding past music and drama into tourism, consumption and language learning. Large concerts generate lodging, dining and transport demand for the host city, enlarging what is called the 'concert economy.'

For Chinese and Korean communities in Europe, such large cultural events also become occasions for exchange. Sharing one stage across language and nationality can serve as a point where migrant communities meet local society.

Sinophone Bridge Times does not see this only as one country's 'soft-power victory.' We note that pop culture's power to gather people in one place across borders is becoming a rare common language in a fragmented age.