SM Entertainment said Monday it will hold a free online concert on the first day of next year to give comfort to those fighting against the novel coronavirus pandemic across the world.

The "SMTOWN Live" concert will be live streamed this Friday on social media platforms, including YouTube, Twitter and Beyond Live, an online channel run by South Korea's Naver.

Under the theme of "Culture Humanity," SM's top artists like TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls' Generation's Taeyeon, SHINee's Taemin, EXO's Baekhyun and Kai, Red Velvet and NCT will perform at the free-of-charge concert.

SM said the project is designed to bring new hope to people around the world who have been struggling with COVID-19.

Since 2008, top SM artists have jointly toured global cities, like New York, Paris, Tokyo, Beijing, Bangkok, Singapore, Dubai and many others in the format of the joint SM concert "SMTOWN Live." (Yonhap)