South Korean K-pop bands are one of the country’s most profitable cultural exports. But the boy band B1A4 has come up hard against religious disapproval after a recent concert in Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur. Religious authorities in the predominantly Muslim country plan to castigate event organizers after pictures emerged of Malaysian girls in the audience, properly clad in the head scarves known as “tudung,” but engaged in the “shameful act” of embracing band members. “The organizer did not take precautionary measures,” said the director of the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Department, Othman Mustapha.
