4.3 Million Visit Year-End and New Year Attractions... Government to Implement Special Crowd Management

Operation of 'Special Crowd Management Period' until January 1
Dispatch of managers to 19 locations including Myeongdong, Hongdae, and Jeongdongjin

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will operate a 'Year-end and New Year Crowd Management Special Measures Period' from the 20th of this month until January 1st of next year. This is because it is expected that 4.3 million people will gather in major downtown areas and local attractions nationwide during this year's Christmas and year-end sunset and sunrise periods.

First, on-site situation managers will be dispatched to 19 areas, including Myeongdong and Hongdae in Seoul, where crowd density is expected to be high, as well as sunrise spots such as Jeongdongjin and Ganjeolgot, to manage the situation on-site until the crowd disperses.

[Photo by Gangneung City Hall]

Local governments will establish safety management plans from the event preparation stage, and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, police, fire departments, and private experts will jointly inspect event safety management situations to remove and supplement risk factors in advance.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety also plans to utilize auxiliary means for monitoring signs of crowd congestion, such as the Crowd Management Support System, real-time urban data, and the People Counting System. The People Counting System automatically measures the number of people per unit area using closed-circuit television (CCTV) and alerts about risk signs.

So far, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has supplemented various measures for managing large crowds. Through the revision of the 'Disaster and Safety Act,' large crowd accidents have been specified as a type of social disaster cause, and central administrative agencies have been designated as disaster management authorities. Additionally, in cases where there is no organizer or the organizer is unclear for events such as Christmas or year-end and New Year festivals, the head of the relevant local government is required to establish a safety management plan.

Lee Han-kyung, Director of the Disaster and Safety Management Headquarters at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said at the year-end and New Year large crowd safety management meeting held on the same day, "We will continuously supplement the crowd safety management measures established by each agency to ensure they work effectively on-site," and added, "We will make every effort to prevent crowd accidents."