Population of 60,000 but 50,000 Tourists Flock... Chaos at Haman Nakhwa Nori Festival

Visiting Haman County with double the maximum capacity of 50,000
Haman County Governor "Deeply Sorry, Will Improve Issues"

At the '30th Nakwhanori' held in Haman-gun, Gyeongnam, a large crowd caused communication failures and traffic congestion, prompting the Haman-gun mayor to issue an apology.

The Nakwhanori event held in Haman-gun on the 27th [Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 27th, 50,000 people visited the Nakwhanori festival held in Haman, Gyeongnam.

Haman-gun had planned the maximum capacity for this year's event at 22,000 people, but after the recent lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and word of mouth spreading through social networking services (SNS), the number of tourists visiting the festival exceeded twice the expected number.

As a huge crowd gathered, Haman-gun urgently deployed safety personnel and police officers, but it was insufficient.

When the parking lots provided by Haman-gun became full, all roads around the event site turned into parking lots.

Some people parked far from the venue and walked, but due to restrictions, they were unable to enter and had to turn back.

Communication issues such as internet and phone problems also occurred on site.

Haman-gun sent an emergency disaster text message around 5 p.m. advising caution for safety, but people continued to flock to watch Nakwhanori.

Therefore, to prevent safety accidents, Haman-gun decided to advance the main Nakwhanori event, originally scheduled to start at 7 p.m., to around 5:50 p.m.

There were also dangerous situations where people climbed on chairs or flowerpots to watch Nakwhanori.

Apology Letter Regarding the Nakwhanori Event Written by the Mayor of Haman County [Photo by Haman County Office Website]

Immediately after the event, posts criticizing Haman-gun's response appeared on the free bulletin board of the Haman-gun website, saying things like "What kind of event is this?" and "I regretted coming all the way to Haman."

In response, on the 28th, the mayor of Haman-gun officially apologized, stating, "We sincerely apologize for the various inconveniences caused to everyone who visited the event," and "We will take this event as a lesson and listen carefully to your valuable opinions to improve the problems."

After this news spread, some netizens reacted with comments such as "The county's response was disappointing" and "It could have been a big disaster."

On the other hand, some argued that "How is it the mayor's fault when 50,000 tourists came to a county with a population of 60,000?" and urged restraint from indiscriminate criticism.