Somber Halloween in Itaewon amid heavy police presence

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Somber Halloween in Itaewon amid heavy police presence

Published: 29 Oct. 2023, 15:46

Police stationed in Itaewon orders people to move along at the once popular alleyway on Friday. A barrier had been set up to prevent people from being mixed and crowding the area, which was considered to have played a main factor to the death of 159 people a year ago. [CHOI KI-WOONG]

This year’s Halloween weekend passed relatively quietly in Itaewon, while other popular weekend destinations like Hongdae were crowded as usual.

Most visitors to Itaewon weren’t even dressed in costumes or makeup.

“If I came here dressed up for Halloween, I would have drawn a ton of attention,” said 29-year-old Sung, dressed in black jeans and a leather jacket with a white shirt underneath.

Sung said in the past, he always visited Itaewon on Halloween in a costume.

“But this year, I decided not to since everyone's sensitive.”

Though Halloween partygoers were few and far between, police were practically everywhere.

Officers even erected a barrier in the middle of the 300-meter-long alleyway where 158 people were killed in a crowd crush during Halloween festivities last year.

The police and the district office employees patrolling the neighborhood were on high alert.

“We’re making sure that people don’t form crowds,” a police officer told the JoongAng Ilbo. “But also, we’re making sure no one is acting irrationally.”

Nevertheless, a few visitors dressed up for Halloween.

Twenty-three-year-old Koh was in Itaewon on Friday dressed up as a bride. He said it took him a week to work on the bridal dress and four hours of makeup.

“But all the fun has drained out since there aren’t many people in costume,” said Koh.

Kim, a 55-year-old merchant who sold glow-in-the-dark headbands, said he hadn’t seen anything like this in the five years he'd been in business.

This year, the police cracked down particularly hard on people dressed as police officers.

Last year, visitors dressed in police, doctor and first responder costumes confused emergency workers responding to the disaster, complicating rescue efforts.

“I didn’t know it was illegal,” said 33-year-old Park while grabbing a taxi. “I only realized after my friend told me.”

People lined up in front of a store in Hongdae on Saturday with some dressed up for Halloween. [LEE YOUNG-KEUN]

While the scene in Itaewon was solemn, Hongdae and Gangnam were full of police officers constantly blowing whistles as part of crowd control efforts.

More people were in costume, including revelers dressed up as the Joker, a witch and even North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“I decided to come to Hongdae instead of Itaewon because of last year,” said a visitor who asked to remain nameless.

According to the Seoul city government, roughly 12,000 people were in Itaewon at 10 p.m. on Friday and 14,000 at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

In contrast, 80,000 and 90,000 people were in Hongdae during the same hours Friday and Saturday.

BY LEE YOUNG-KEUN [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]