The South Korean government is moving to prevent crowd-related accidents ahead of Halloween on the 31st.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said on the 20th that it held an interagency meeting on crowd safety management for Halloween, chaired by Minister Yoon Ho-jung. The meeting was arranged to review safety measures and strengthen cooperation among agencies, focusing on major nightlife districts such as Itaewon and Hongdae.
The ministry will run a special crowd management period for 10 days from the 23rd through the 1st of next month, designating a total of 28 locations for intensive management, including 14 in Seoul, four in Gwangju and Jeonnam, and three in Busan.
Among them, advance inspection teams and on-site situation managers will be dispatched to 12 locations expected to draw the largest crowds, including Itaewon, Hongdae, Seongsu-dong, Konkuk University, Gangnam Station, Apgujeong, Myeong-dong and Ikseon-dong in Seoul, the Cheomdan district in Gwangju, Seomyeon in Busan, Dongseong-ro in Daegu and Dunsan-dong in Daejeon.
These officials will check whether safety management plans are in place, how safety personnel are deployed on site, how facilities are managed and how bottleneck areas are controlled. They will also closely monitor conditions on the ground on Halloween until crowds disperse safely.
"We will make every effort on crowd safety management so that the public can go about their daily lives with peace of mind, anytime and anywhere," Yoon said.