Police officers, riot squads to be deployed over Christmas weekend

Police officers control the crowd on Dec. 17 in Busan ahead of the Busan Fireworks Festival which was held on the same day. [YONHAP]

Six-hundred-fifty-six police officers and eight riot squads for crowd control will be deployed over Christmas weekend, according to the National Police Agency.

“We are expecting around 500,000 people to gather in 37 popular holiday destinations such as Myeong-dong, Gangnam Station and Gwangalli Beach over the weekend,” the National Police Agency said.

For New Year’s Day, the police expect around 1.24 million people to gather across the country in places like Boshingak in Jongno, central Seoul and Gyeongpodae Beach in Gangneung.

The police are currently in discussion with local governments about the deployment of officers for New Year's Day events.

They advised local governments to set up safety committees for crowd control in areas that anticipate a big crowd even if there are no specific event organizers.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]