On the 19th, at a bakery café inside the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno District, Seoul. In front of the café, a sandwich board with a purple background, the signature color of BTS, was set up.
Head office employee Yoon Aerim, 23, said, "Among the seasonal menu items, there was a 'Suga chewy cookie,' and since BTS also has a member named Suga, we put it back on sale," adding, "I came up with the idea and made a promotional sandwich board with purple."
As BTS is set to hold a comeback concert for its fifth studio album, "Arirang (ARIRANG)," at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul on the 21st, the area has turned purple. With about 260,000 people expected to flock there, businesses are moving quickly to secure more customers.
Restaurants are rolling out products tailored to ARMY, the BTS fandom. One restaurant said it "hopes BTS succeeds as a global artist," switched its interior lighting to purple and prepared a nacho menu featuring purple accents.
Store owner Moon Sang-gi said, "We made purple T-shirts for employees to wear and produced about 1,000 norigae to match the album Arirang," adding, "With the BTS concert drawing global attention to Gwanghwamun, we wanted to contribute in any way."
There are also places like a café selling coffee topped with purple flowers, a sushi restaurant preparing sushi with sauce made from purple sweet potatoes for the concert day, and a restaurant planning to offer 1,000 bowls of Pyongyang cold noodles for free on a first-come, first-served basis.
One café was selling ice cream made with the purple "lavender." A person surnamed Song, 66, who said they came to the café to buy lavender ice cream, said, "Everyone in my family is ARMY," adding, "As a fan, I'm very happy to enjoy these products timed to the comeback concert."
Kyobo Bookstore's Gwanghwamun branch set up a section from the day before introducing books recommended by BTS members. A hanbok lending shop near Gyeongbokgung Palace also began selling BTS merchandise.
Convenience stores hung banners reading "Welcome Korea," or placed balloons in their stores that said "Welcome ARMY."
Since the day before, the media poles on Myeongdong Street have been playing videos welcoming BTS and ARMY. From 7 p.m. on the 20th, the "BTS Gyeongbokgung special film" will also be unveiled on media walls around Gwanghwamun Square, including at the Koreana Hotel. The video will play at 5, 25 and 45 minutes past every hour until midnight on the 21st.
However, some worry that, with traffic controls in place around Gwanghwamun Square on the concert day, as many customers as hoped may not come. An employee at a bar in Mugyo-dong, a person surnamed Kang, 57, said, "We prepared three to four times more ingredients than usual, but since we're in an alley, I'm worried not many will come."
Sejong-daero (Gyeongbokgung–City Hall), where the BTS concert seating will be installed, will have restricted traffic from 9 p.m. on the 20th. On the concert day, Sajik-ro, Yulgok-ro, Saemunan-ro and Jong-ro near Gwanghwamun Square will also be controlled in sequence. Nearby subway stations Gyeongbokgung, Gwanghwamun and City Hall will pass through without stopping, and bus routes will be detoured.
In preparation for safety incidents, the alert level is being raised. The government upgraded the terrorism alert level around Gwanghwamun Square from "attention" to "caution." On the concert day, the crowd disaster risk alert will also be at "caution." The National Fire Agency issued "Special Vigil Duty No. 2" and is inspecting ambulance travel routes and more.