On the 21st, when BTS' comeback performance is scheduled to be held, a chef carrying a kitchen knife was caught during a stop-and-search while walking around Gwanghwamun in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
According to Yonhap News, a police official said at a briefing to the prime minister held at the BTS concert integrated on-site headquarters situation room inside the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno-gu that a metal detector identified a kitchen knife. The official also said the person carrying it was confirmed to be a chef.
The point was that the detection is so precise that most metal items can be identified. When Prime Minister Kim Min-seok asked, "Does it even check nail clippers?" the response was, "If set to be very sensitive, it does."
In the morning, a group trying to pass through a metal detector with a paring knife in a backpack was also stopped by police. They reportedly argued with officers, saying they only had the knife to peel fruit as they usually do.
At about 8 p.m., safety fences were set up in a zone stretching 1.2 kilometers north to south and 200 meters east to west, from across the Gwanghwamun Woldae to City Hall Station on subway Lines 1 and 2, centered on Gwanghwamun Square where the BTS concert is held. To pass through the square, people must go through 31 gates installed along the fences.
Police are managing the crowd by guiding foot traffic so the flow does not bottleneck inside and outside the gates. However, as the afternoon progressed and the crowd grew, long lines formed behind the gates, leading to continued complaints from passersby. Some gates that became congested with the crowd were temporarily closed to entry altogether.
Responding to a police instruction to go to another gate, one citizen said, "It seems like half the people here right now have nothing to do with BTS," expressing frustration.