Itaewon Halloween Crowds Prompt Subway Line 6 Last Trains to Skip Stops
As crowds of up to 130,000 people packed Seoul's Itaewon district on the night of October 31, trains on Subway Line 6 passed through Itaewon Station without stopping from 11:47 p.m. until the final train at 11:59 p.m. A no-stop pass-through means a train runs through the station without stopping for safety reasons. This was the first Halloween since the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush that fell on a weekend, and large numbers of safety personnel, including police and district office staff, were deployed.
The roadway from the Itaewon 119 Safety Center to Noksapyeong Square was closed to vehicles from 6 p.m. and opened as pedestrian space. Last year, officials decided to close the road around 10:40 p.m. after assessing on-site congestion, but this year a policy was set in advance, securing space before the crowds surged. This proved highly effective: when people packed into narrow alleys, the crowd dispersed by moving onto the opened roadway. Even so, pedestrian flow slowed in some narrow alleys, briefly causing bottlenecks. Police intervened to control the crowds and the congestion eased. Fences were also installed along parts of Hongdae and Itaewon, directing people to move slowly in one direction.
In the Hongdae area, a report was received that a person experienced abnormal symptoms after being handed and eating a 'drug candy' from a man wearing a mascot costume of a character from a well-known language-learning app, but it turned out to be a false report, with no narcotics detected. Yongsan Police Station said there were no notable incidents or accidents. The Hongdae on-site 119 Comprehensive Situation Room and the Yongsan Fire Station situation room also reported nothing out of the ordinary beyond minor complaints such as wrist pain and a sprained ankle.
The crowds gradually thinned out after midnight. According to Seoul's real-time city data, the real-time population of the Itaewon Special Tourist Zone stood at 30,000 to 32,000 as of midnight on November 1, while the Hongdae Special Tourist Zone recorded 86,000 to 88,000.
Numerous creative costumes were spotted throughout the streets of Itaewon. Jung, a 22-year-old university student dressed as a pumpkin and the animated character Garfield, said, "I come to Itaewon every Halloween, so I brought my friends along. We'll stay out until 10 p.m. and then head home." Mr. Lee, dressed as ketchup and mustard, was asked whether he was worried about safety and replied, "There seem to be fewer people than I expected, so I think we're okay," adding, "It looks like plenty of safety personnel have been deployed."
Starting at 9 p.m. the previous evening, groups including 'Pumpkin Lanterns Remembering Itaewon' held a memorial event marking the fourth anniversary of the Itaewon crowd crush at Noksapyeong Square. After concluding the first part of the event, they marched through the Quinon Road area until 11 p.m. in memory of the victims.
