South Korean band BTS Photo: VCG

Chinese fans anticipate more K-pop idols to perform in concerts and take part in activities in China amid warming China-South Korea ties, three years after the two countries were caught in a deadlock over the US deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea. 

Leaders of the two countries met on Monday in Beijing and stressed deepening ties and forging a strategic cooperative partnership. 

Analysts believe such top-level communication implies that the two countries continue to walk out of the shadows following the THAAD dispute.

Chinese K-pop fans also see hope in the warming ties after slumped appearance of South Korean performers in China. 

As early as December 3, Kim Hee-chul, a famous South Korean singer and member of South Korean group Super Junior, and actress Im Yoon-ah visited Shanghai to attend a fashion show. 

Besides, K-pop band GOT7 also attended a fan fest in Qingdao, a coastal city in East China's Shandong Province on Sunday.

"GOT7 meeting its fans makes me look forward to BTS coming to the Chinese mainland for concerts as soon as possible," Qiao, a female BTS fan from Beijing told the Global Times, expressing her excitement on the reconciliation between the two countries. 

The band used to visit the Chinese mainland attending activities and performing in concerts before the THAAD crisis, according to Qiao.

Their last concert in the Chinese mainland was held on July 5, 2016, in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, just before the South Korean government approved the deployment of the THAAD system in that July. 

According to South Korean media, since then K-pop idols have not been able to perform in any gathering that exceeds 10,000 people in the Chinese mainland. 

Some television dramas starring South Korean performers including Lee Jong-suk, Oh Se-hun, and Chrystal Soo Jung, which were affected, are likely to be released in 2020 in the Chinese mainland, predicted some mainland entertainment media outlets.