A large fireworks festival in South Korea drew a massive crowd Saturday, snarling traffic through its busy capital, prompting police to deploy 2,400 officers and sending hotel room rates above $7,400.
The popular annual event has taken on a serious public safety dimension as memory is still fresh of a Halloween night disaster two years ago that killed 159 mostly young people in a crush of crowd packed in a dense entertainment district.
Many of the more than 1 million spectators who were expected to watch the 90-minute show were camping out since midnight to secure a spot with a view of the event scheduled to start at 7:20 p.m. (1020 GMT) over the Han River that runs through Seoul.
Oh Soo-taek, 64, who said he has been coming to the festival with his wife for three years, found the place already crowded when they got there at 2 p.m. but said it was exciting to be part of an event bringing so many families and friends together.
“We had that big accident two years ago so it’s so good to see the organizers and the police and everyone helping each other and keeping order.”
Many restaurants, bars and hotel rooms on Yeouido island on the river and on its banks with a view of the fireworks by teams from Japan, South Korea and the United States had been booked days ahead.
High-floor suites at one luxury hotel on Yeouido were sold out Saturday at nearly double the normal rate, despite the less than perfect view of the fireworks they offered, a reservation official said.
The event is hosted by the Hanwha conglomerate, which has grown from a dynamite maker to a global defense contractor. Its team participates in a fireworks performance as part of the festival.
Authorities took no chances on security, as spectators poured into an area the size of several city blocks on and near Yeouido, the country’s main financial center and a dense commercial and residential district.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo directed police, emergency services and the safety and health ministries to be on full alert with a focus on crowd control and also asked for spectator cooperation to ensure order.
The precaution comes as the country still grapples with the 2022 Halloween disaster in Seoul’s Itaewon nightlife district blamed on failed crowd control.
On Monday, the police chief of that district was convicted of negligence and sentenced to three years in prison in the first such verdict against a senior public official over the disaster.
