'One Million Crowd' at Hangang World Fireworks Festival... Government "Thorough Safety Management"

Joint Inspection by 14 Agencies Including Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Police, and Fire Department

On the afternoon of the 7th, as around one million people are expected to gather in the Yeouido and Ichon Hangang Park areas of Seoul for the '2023 Seoul World Fireworks Festival,' the government is making every effort to ensure the event proceeds safely.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, National Police Agency, National Fire Agency, Seoul Metropolitan Government, Yeongdeungpo District, and 14 other related agencies announced that they conducted a joint government safety inspection focused on the event site and its surroundings over two days starting from the 6th. The main inspection items included ▲crowd management measures (such as dispersing entry and exit points) ▲traffic measures (such as road control) ▲emergency rescue plans (such as operating emergency medical stations) ▲fire safety (such as fire management and securing firefighting facilities) ▲and inter-agency collaborative response systems.

On the morning of the festival day, Lee Han-kyung, Director of the Disaster and Safety Management Headquarters at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, visited the event site to conduct a final check on safety preparations. Director Lee reviewed the 'festival exit routes' and time allocation plans, which are areas of concern for crowd congestion, toured the waterside area of Hangang Park to examine crowd dispersal measures, secured access routes for fire trucks, installation of safety fences, deployment of safety personnel, and communication failure prevention measures. He also visited the festival’s comprehensive safety headquarters to encourage staff and on-site personnel and urged them to maintain a thorough situation management system for all safety incidents.

Director Lee also toured areas expected to experience crowd congestion during the Halloween festival at the end of this month, including Hongdae, Myeongdong, and Itaewon in Seoul, and instructed local governments, police, fire departments, and other related agencies to thoroughly prepare to ensure that safety measures, including crowd management, function properly on site.

Marking its 19th year, the Seoul World Fireworks Festival will begin at 1 p.m. with citizen participation programs such as media art and photo zones. At 7 p.m., the opening ceremony will be held, followed by a 1 hour and 10 minute fireworks display. After the event, performances and a clean-up campaign will continue until 10:50 p.m. The festival is expected to attract an estimated one million attendees according to the organizer (Hanwha Group), with over 100,000 fireworks lighting up the night sky.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.