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BTS Greets 50,000 ARMY From Mexico City’s National Palace Balcony After Meeting President Sheinbaum
BTS met President Claudia Sheinbaum and greeted about 50,000 ARMY from the National Palace balcony before three sold-out ARIRANG shows in Mexico City.
BTS waved to roughly 50,000 fans from a National Palace balcony on May 6, 2026
After a brief meeting with President Claudia Sheinbaum, BTS stepped onto one of the balconies of Mexico City’s National Palace on May 6 and addressed the throng gathered in the Zócalo, officially known as Constitution Plaza. The capital’s government put the crowd at about 50,000 people — a sea of ARMY who had waited for hours under intense heat ahead of the group’s ARIRANG tour dates in the city.
The appearance lasted barely five minutes, but those minutes were everything: applause, tears, phones raised to capture the band up close, and a level of euphoria that the members returned by snapping photos of the plaza from the balcony. Dressed in elegant beige and navy-blue suits, the seven moved quickly through gratitude and quick Spanish greetings before stepping back inside.
RM: “Muchas gracias for having us. We can’t wait for tomorrow’s concert on stage. Let’s have fun together! Te amo. Te quiero, Muchas gracias.”
V took the mic next and read a short Spanish message off his phone:
“Hello. I don’t speak Spanish very well, but I will try. I’ve missed you. We’ve missed Mexico so much. The energy here is incredible. Thank you so much for loving us so much. See you next time. Goodbye.”
Fans packed Constitution Plaza hours before the band’s three concerts at the GNP Seguros Stadium, scheduled for May 7, 9 and 10. Promoter Ocesa reported the dates as sold out, with over 136,000 tickets sold for the Mexico City run.
President Sheinbaum — who posed for a photo with all seven members during the visit and later shared the image on her social media — addressed the crowd briefly as well, saying, “I already told them that they have to come back next year.” On her own account she wrote, “I warmly welcome one of the most beloved groups among the youth of Mexico: BTS. Music and values unite Mexico and South Korea.”
Her invitation to the presidential headquarters did not come without controversy. Some ARMY members used social platforms to urge the president not to politicize the group’s visit, criticizing the optics of a state welcome for a pop act.
The presidential outreach has been ongoing: Sheinbaum had publicly pushed for more shows in Mexico after tickets sold out in under an hour. On January 26 she told her South Korean counterpart, Lee Jae Myung, about Mexico’s appetite for more concerts; roughly three weeks later, Mexico says the South Korean government replied that it had forwarded the request to HYBE, BTS’s management company.
For those in the plaza, the political back-and-forth mattered less than the emotion of seeing BTS so close. The band’s brief balcony greeting was both a tease and a promise — a preview of three stadium shows that, for many, are the main event.
