The Seoul Metropolitan Government will deploy an on-site response force of about 3,400 people for a BTS comeback event scheduled to be held at Gwanghwamun Square on the 21st. To protect public safety that day, nearby subway stations will skip stops, and buses will be detoured.
The city said on the 9th it held a Joint Safety Management Inspection Meeting for the BTS Comeback Event to prepare for large crowds in the downtown area, including around Gwanghwamun.
The meeting, chaired by Mayor Oh Se-hoon, reviewed safety response conditions with related agencies including district offices, fire authorities and police. Since the BTS concert was confirmed, the city has continuously managed preparations through weekly meetings attended by the first and second vice mayors for administrative affairs and senior officials from related departments, starting with a readiness inspection meeting chaired by Oh on Feb. 4.
First, to ensure systematic on-site safety management, the city will operate the Citizen Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, composed of a command unit and eight working teams. The headquarters will be led by the head of the Seoul Disaster and Safety Office as Deputy Minister and consist of the situation control team, traffic countermeasures team, medical countermeasures team, rescue and first aid team, facilities management team, foreigner support team, monitoring team, and administrative support team. In cooperation with related agencies such as district offices, fire authorities and police, it will be responsible for comprehensive safety, including crowd control, traffic control, and emergency medical response.
Along with this, in cooperation with related agencies such as district offices, public corporations and fire authorities, the city will deploy an on-site response force of about 3,400 people. It will subdivide zones for the venue, key subway stations and areas expected to see crowd congestion to monitor crowd flows and risk conditions in real time, and will prevent safety accidents through comprehensive on-site responses including maintaining traffic order, emergency medical response, and rescue and first aid support.
Starting the day before the concert, to prevent safety accidents and pedestrian congestion caused by tent installations around the venue, long waits and lining up, the city will strengthen patrols around Gwanghwamun Square and Sejong-daero in cooperation with police. People waiting overnight or lining up on sidewalks will be guided immediately to secure on-site order, and in the event of a dangerous situation, on-site measures will be taken immediately. Street vendors that could disrupt order and the pedestrian environment around the venue will be cracked down on through on-site patrols with district offices.
The city will also continue advance safety inspections of key facilities around the venue, including railings, stairs, sculptures and ventilation shafts. Of the 24 risk factors identified in the first inspection in Feb.—including risks of falls, collapse, toppling and obstruction of passage—relevant departments are taking measures. A second inspection of the area around Seoul Plaza and Sungnyemun will be conducted before the event to wrap up the cited issues.
To make it easier for spectators and visitors to use restrooms, the city has secured a total of 2,399 open restrooms and portable toilets around the venue. A total of 2,535 more will be secured before the concert. Cleaning staff will be deployed to maintain cleanliness.
Measures will also continue to minimize traffic inconvenience and ensure safety. Four nearby subway stations (Line 5 Gwanghwamun Station, Lines 1 and 2 City Hall Station, and Line 3 Gyeongbokgung Station) will skip stops, and station entrances will be closed. Other nearby stations, including Euljiro 1-ga Station, will also skip stops if necessary depending on congestion.
Gwanghwamun Station will skip stops from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., and City Hall Station and Gyeongbokgung Station will skip stops from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. The time to lift the skip-stop measure may be adjusted depending on on-site conditions.
Station safety management will also be strengthened. Seoul Metro has completed advance safety inspections for 17 nearby stations, including the four stations where trains will skip stops, and will increase safety management personnel from the usual 111 to 461 on the day of the event.
After the event, starting at 9 p.m., 12 extra trains will be deployed on Lines 2, 3 and 5. With this, trains will arrive at stations near the venue empty, and there will be a total of 24 more runs compared with normal. The city will also work with police to manage spectator flows and control station entrances so subway users do not crowd into stations all at once.
City bus routes that pass Sejong-daero, Sajik-ro and Saemunan-ro near the venue will also skip stops or be temporarily detoured in line with traffic control. Starting on the 11th, the city plans to provide advance notice of traffic control information via bus information terminals (BIT) at stops, variable message signs (VMS) on roads, and the TOPIS website.
In addition, the city will conduct special crackdowns on illegal parking and stopping on roads near the venue, and temporarily suspend returns and lending of public bicycles and personal mobility devices in the area to protect pedestrian safety.
Oh Se-hoon, the Seoul mayor, said, "Accidents happen the moment we get complacent because we are familiar," and noted, "We must remember that accidents always start with 1% complacency."
He added, "We should view the entire downtown from Gwanghwamun to Seoul Plaza as a single venue, and the area around the stage as well as traffic management and crowd response must operate organically like one system," and said, "Only after the very last citizen returns home safely does our mission truly end."