BTS Gwanghwamun Concert: 25% Foreign Audience, Mostly Students and Workers

Fans of the group BTS enjoyed the performance "BTS The Comeback Live｜ARIRANG," held on the 21st in the Gwanghwamun area of Seoul to celebrate the release of their 5th full album "ARIRANG." Photo by Hyunmin Kim

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On March 21, a total of 19,170 foreign spectators attended the BTS comeback concert held in the Gwanghwamun Square area in Seoul. One out of every four audience members was a foreigner, and among them, the proportion of foreign residents in Korea was overwhelmingly higher than that of tourists.

According to living population data from the Seoul Metropolitan Government released on March 27, the total living population in the Gwanghwamun Square, Deoksugung, and City Hall Station areas between 8 and 9 p.m. on the day of the concert was tallied at 75,927. The city estimates living population in 250-square-meter units, and this figure is based on the area known as the "BTS Zone," which stretches from Gwanghwamun to City Hall Station, Deoksugung, and the Sogong-dong Community Service Center.

Of the 19,170 foreign spectators, 13,889-or 72.4%-were long-term residents staying in Korea for more than 91 days. In contrast, only 5,281 were short-term visitors. This suggests that students and workers residing in Korea made up a much larger portion of the audience than tourists who traveled from overseas specifically for the concert.

By nationality, Thais comprised the largest group with 1,740 spectators, followed by Vietnamese (1,184), Indians (1,126), and Japanese (1,098). The city estimated the numbers by comprehensively analyzing mobile base station connection data, credit card transaction data, and immigration records from the Ministry of Justice.

This living population data is considered more accurate than the previously released real-time urban data. As of 8:30 p.m. on the day of the concert, the real-time data showed a population of about 46,000 to 48,000. The Seoul Metropolitan Government explained, "Real-time data does not include foreign tourists who do not use roaming services. The living population data, which incorporates Ministry of Justice immigration records and is published after a time lag, is closest to the actual number of concert attendees."

Estimates of audience numbers differed by institution. The organizer, Hybe, estimated that approximately 104,000 people attended the concert. According to Hybe, this figure includes not only spectators in the Gwanghwamun Square area but also those in the Sungnyemun area and citizens passing by.

The police had initially projected that up to 260,000 people would gather at the site, based on the assumption that two people would occupy each square meter along the Gwanghwamun-Sungnyemun section of Sejong-daero.

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