Stray Kids miss National Palace visit after Mexico's president says they will attend
Stray Kids never arrived at Mexico's National Palace on 24 September, hours after President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters they would join South Korea's president for an official visit.
Only Sheinbaum and President Lee Jae Myung stepped out. The two leaders appeared on the presidential balcony and at the building entrance to greet people gathered in the Zocalo, Mexico City's main square, Billboard reported.
The confusion started at Sheinbaum's Thursday morning press conference at the National Palace. She announced that the eight-member K-pop group would visit alongside Lee during his official visit. She described them to reporters as "kind of like BTS, but younger."
Dozens of fans took her at her word. They gathered outside the National Palace after the announcement, expecting to see the group with the two presidents.
That did not happen. In a video posted on Thursday night to her official TikTok account, Sheinbaum said she had thought Stray Kids would accompany Lee. Instead, she explained, the group is preparing for concerts in Mexico City the next day and has been invited to visit on another occasion.
The concerts are set for 25-26 September at GNP Seguros Stadium in Mexico City. The dates place the palace visit between tour preparations, which left no room for the appearance fans had waited for outside.
There was a small consolation for young fans. Sheinbaum said 10 tickets to the Stray Kids concert in Mexico were gifted to girls and boys, according to live coverage of the press conference by Infobae.
For fans, this means the palace trip is off for now but the shows go ahead as planned. The presidency's written record of the Mexico-Korea bilateral meeting also notes that Stray Kids would perform in Mexico the next day, and that BTS is expected to arrive in Mexico again in 2027, according to the transcript on gob.mx.
Lee was scheduled to visit the United States and Mexico on 21-27 September to attend the UN General Assembly, Reuters reported. His stop in Mexico included the bilateral meeting and media message at the National Palace.
