Halloween isn’t a holiday traditionally celebrated in Korea – but as Seoul has become more international in recent years and with an increasing number of Koreans after years abroad, it’s has become a more popular occasion, one in which the city’s emerging diversity is on full display.
Celebrations have always been centered around Itaewon, a neighborhood associated with the city’s expats and American culture because of its proximity to an American military base, even after it was recently relocated.
The holiday started happening in South Korea around 2011, according to a local street photographer. was recorded Halloween festival in the country for about a decade. In 2012, locals seemed to outnumber foreigners in costumed crowds, and in 2018 the streets of Itaewon were so full of revelers that hard to go downaccording to a photographer’s blog post.
Itaewon’s Halloween celebrations have softened in recent years amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The neighborhood saw one of the city’s earliest outbreaks and became the target of a concentrated crackdown by the Seoul city government.
On Halloween 2020, officials requested registration with a QR code, and in 2021 the city will switch from business to business to enforce pandemic control measures, including urging restaurants leave about 30% of their tables empty.
This year, the first Halloween after most social distancing measures were lifted, police said they were ready to keep attendees safe.
“With restrictions lifted on clubs and other facilities, excitement is running higher than ever,” the Yongsan district police office said. in a press release on Thursday. They said more than 200 police officers will be on the streets of Itaewon to fight drugs and sex crimes.
Even so, in the wake of Saturday’s disaster, a government minister said authorities were not expecting crowds larger than a typical year. Lee Sang-min, Minister of Home Affairs and Safety, said at a press conference that some police officers had been redirected elsewhere in the city because of large-scale political protests.
