Here’s Everything Seoul City Will Do For BTS’s Comeback Concert — And The Backlash It Invites

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has announced that it will implement large-scale safety measures, including halting subway operations at nearby stops and bus detours, ahead of BTS’s comeback concert scheduled for March 21 at Gwanghwamun Square. Around 3,400 personnel will be deployed on site to manage safety.

According to the Seoul city government on March 9, Mayor Oh Se Hoon chaired a joint safety inspection meeting for the BTS comeback event earlier that morning to review the safety management plan. Officials from district offices, police, fire authorities, and related agencies attended the meeting.

BTS will release their 5th full-length album ARIRANG on March 20, followed by a live comeback performance at 8pm on March 21 at Gwanghwamun Square.

To ensure a systematic on-site response, the city will operate a Citizen Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, led by the head of the Disaster and Safety Office. Eight working divisions, including situation control, traffic management, medical response, rescue and emergency services, facility management, foreigner support, monitoring, and administrative support, will coordinate crowd management, traffic control, and emergency medical services.

On the day of the event, approximately 3,400 on-site personnel from district offices, public corporations, fire departments, and other agencies will be deployed. The concert venue, nearby subway stations, and areas expected to see heavy crowds will be divided into zones to monitor crowd flow in real time while maintaining traffic order and providing emergency medical and rescue support.

The Seoul Fire & Disaster Headquarters will deploy 99 fire trucks and 765 firefighters, the largest deployment ever for an event of this kind. Police will also deploy additional personnel and apply a “stadium-style crowd management system,” controlling the event area in stages from the outer perimeter. Authorities will also prepare for potential terrorist threats involving vehicles, explosives, or drones.

Starting the day before the concert, patrols around Gwanghwamun Square and Sejong-daero will be strengthened. The city will work with police to discourage tents, overnight waiting, and long queues, aiming to minimize pedestrian congestion. Illegal street vendors that could obstruct walkways will also be jointly cracked down on.

Safety inspections of facilities around the venue are also underway. The city has already checked railings, stairs, sculptures, and ventilation structures, identifying 24 potential hazards such as fall, collapse, or tipping risks. Additional inspections will be conducted around Seoul Plaza and Sungnyemun before the event.

To improve visitor convenience, the number of restrooms will be significantly increased. A total of 2,399 restrooms, including open public toilets and portable units, have been secured around the venue, with plans to expand to 2,535 units before the concert.

Traffic control will also be strengthened. On the day of the event, nearby subway stations Gwanghwamun Station, City Hall Station, and Gyeongbokgung Station will temporarily operate without stopping (people will not be able to get off), and some station entrances will be closed. Additional nearby stations, such as Euljiro 1-ga Station, may also bypass stops depending on crowd conditions. City buses passing through Sejong-daero, Sajik-ro, and Saemunan-ro will either bypass stops or temporarily detour.

Support for international visitors will also be strengthened. The city will distribute a digital guidebook in Korean and English, and the Smart Seoul Map will provide multilingual maps showing the locations of restrooms, information booths, and on-site medical stations.

Emergency text alerts about traffic control and safety information will also be sent in Korean and English on the day of the event. The 120 Dasan Call Center will expand multilingual support staff in English, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Mongolian to handle emergency inquiries.

Additionally, 70 tourism guides will operate mobile information booths around the venue, and more than 600 volunteers will be deployed.

“We will treat the entire downtown area from Gwanghwamun to Seoul Plaza as a single event venue and ensure that traffic and crowd management operate organically like a system. While minimizing inconvenience to residents, we will implement a comprehensive safety management system so visitors can enjoy the event with peace of mind. Our mission will only be complete when the very last person returns home safely.”

Due to the large scale of preparations, it has inevitably affected not just the tenants and businesses nearby, but also the civilians who are living their daily lives. People will not only be dealing with the huge surge of crowd, but will be unable to take public transport around those areas during the dates. Manpower and public resources have also been dedicated to the site, leading to backlash and dissatisfaction.

| theqoo

• No, but what’s so special about celebrities? Just how much public funds are they investing in an event held for personal gain by a private company?
• I just wonder how much he will media play about what he did for this one event LOL. Totally hate it.
• Why are they doing all that? They can just perform in a concert arena.
• They’re really doing the mostest to be nuisances while affecting others.
• Are they crazy? Is Seoul City theirs?

As the event nears, backlash and negative public opinion is reaching a peak.

BTS