Regarding the controversy that government employees were excessively mobilized for BTS' comeback concert at Seoul's Gwanghwamun Square, police said it was to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
On the 23rd at a regular press briefing, Park Jeong-bo, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner, said, "Isn't excess rather than shortage better for citizen safety," and stated accordingly.
On the day of the BTS concert, police projected that up to 260,000 people would gather. But about 104,000 people visited the venue based on HYBE's tally. The projection was far off the mark.
Regarding this, Commissioner Park said, "The point was that if crowds filled up to Sungnyemun (from Gwanghwamun Square), 260,000 people could come," adding, "Police must prepare for the worst-case scenario and be ready for how to respond if that many people show up."
Commissioner Park added, "With the Middle East situation as well, we prioritized safety for this event," and said, "We could not help but consider terror threats, so citizens likely experienced inconvenience."
More than 10,000 government employees and public institution staff were deployed for safety management on the day of the concert. Separately, HYBE mobilized about 4,800 people.
As the controversy over the excessive mobilization of government employees grew, HYBE apologized the day before. HYBE said, "We offer our apologies and thanks to residents around Gwanghwamun, nearby merchants, office workers, and visitors," adding, "Because we had to carry out a concert under the world's spotlight safely without fail, unavoidable measures such as traffic and building controls and searches for dangerous items were implemented together."