Hallyu, or the Korean wave, is entering a new phase in its development as Korea’s performing arts are set to attract global fans to local theaters this weekend.

“Korea in Motion” festival, the country’s largest non-verbal performance festival, kicks off Saturday with an opening ceremony at the National Museum in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

The 5th annual event, organized by Korea Tourism Organization in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is set to attract tens of thousands of tourists to the city during the 16-day event, according to the KTO.

The aim of the festival is to attract more foreign tourists to spend time here by staging performances designed to break through language and cultural barriers with music, dance and physical comedy, the organization said.

This year’s fest introduces 14 renowned non-verbal performances from home and abroad including NANTA, Jump and Kim Duk-soo’s traditional performing arts, Drum Cat Concert and Battle B-boy.

“We believe our popular performances have the potential to become a tourist attraction,” said Seung Kyung-ja, director KTO’s exhibition and event department.

According to Seung, since the festival began four years ago, the number of tourists coming to watch local performances has been growing in leaps, reaching a milestone of more than 13,000 viewers last year.

This year, the KTO expects more than 15,000 audience members from abroad as well as up to 100,000 local fans to turn up for the festival.

“Some Japanese travel agencies have started to organize trips for our fest. I believe it is now becoming a new hallyu trend. It is also helping to promote the local performances.”

From Oct. 16-31, 14 world-class non-verbal performances will be on stages across the city, including the National Museum of Korea Plaza and Daehangno’s Marronnie Park.

If you have not yet seen it, NANTA is one to look out for. Since its introduction in 1997, the show that conveys the story of four chefs without dialogue but through the rhythmic banging of knives, pots and pans, has achieved great international success, having been performed on Broadway and toured around the world.