Seoul will implement special crowd control measures in busy neighborhoods during Halloween week

SEOUL, Oct. 23 (Yonhap) — The Seoul city government will deploy patrol forces and conduct traffic controls in the city’s 15 busiest districts during the upcoming Halloween week to prevent overcrowding, officials said Wednesday.

The city has instituted a “concentrated Halloween safety management period” from Friday through Nov. 3 to increase patrols and control of overcrowding in the 15 designated areas, officials said.

The 15 locations include the special tourism zones in Itaewon and Hongdae, an entertainment area near Konkuk University, Gangnam Station and a shopping area in Myeongdong.

During this period, officials will be deployed to the sites for patrols, to install security fencing and control traffic.

The city also plans to operate situation rooms in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior, district offices, police and fire brigades to monitor the locations in real time through surveillance cameras, allowing for quick responses in the event of an emergency.

As part of the efforts, crowd monitoring CCTVs will be used to automatically count the number of people per unit area and provide immediate safety alerts to authorities and citizens in case of safety hazards.

In Itaewon alone, about 4,200 security management personnel will be deployed to disperse crowds and control the flow of people leaving Itaewon Station, if necessary.

On October 29, 2022, 159 people were killed in the worst crowd ever in the country’s Itaewon entertainment district over Halloween weekend.

“We will not relax our vigilance during this period of security management and work closely with relevant institutions to thoroughly manage public security,” the city’s deputy mayor said.