With Halloween falling on a Saturday this year, police have put 370 officers in Itaewon and brought in an armored vehicle and explosives-detection dogs. The Kyunghyang Shinmun reported from the scene on the 30th and also covered the 12th billboard at the disaster site.
According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun on the 30th, police will keep 370 officers in the Itaewon area until the morning of November 1, the day after Halloween. They are joined by 10 counter-terror unit members, 20 Seoul police preventive patrol officers, seven detective teams and eight patrol cars. Unit members in red berets patrolled with two explosives-detection dogs.
광고 문의 · 300×250An armored vehicle has also been placed on Itaewon-ro across from the Hamilton Hotel. Ahn Dae-seon, head of security at Yongsan Police Station, said it is meant to counter recent knife attacks and bomb threats at crowded venues and to offer a visible deterrent. Police also warned that even in costume, carrying imitation guns or knives or wearing police uniforms can be punished.
Crowd management and staged controls
Fire services and the Yongsan district office are managing crowds jointly. Safety fences on Itaewon-ro are in place, and at very high congestion both directions will be closed, the fence opened to widen the sidewalk, and subway trains may skip the station. On Halloween itself, the road from the Itaewon 119 Safety Center to Noksapyeong Square is to be fully closed.
A joint situation room at the Yongsan Education and Welfare Center watches crowd density on CCTV and applies staged controls once thresholds are exceeded. The street was relatively quiet even after 6 p.m. on the reporting day, but about 30,000 people gathered near Itaewon Station last Halloween, and police expect more this year because it falls on a Saturday.
The 12th billboard at the disaster site
On the 28th, a day before the fourth anniversary of the October 29, 2022 disaster, the 12th billboard work went up at the Oct. 29 Memory and Safety Road in Yongsan. Film poster designer Park Si-young used images such as Godzilla and King Kong to say that scenes in a movie can be restored but real wounds cannot. It expresses hope that the street will not be left only with sorrow and will again bring people joy.
Bereaved families attended the opening and stayed afterward to tidy chrysanthemums and view the work. On the 31st at 9 p.m., a Halloween event called Pumpkin Lanterns Remembering Itaewon is planned at Noksapyeong Station Square and Quinon-gil. We hope this Halloween passes safely, honoring remembrance and everyday safety together.
