Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Yongsan Police Station and other agencies join inspection of World Food Culture Street; participants pay respects at memorial before holding on-site meeting
Yongsan-gu District Mayor Kim Kyung-dae visited Itaewon World Food Culture Street on Thursday alongside the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Yongsan Police Station and other relevant agencies to inspect safety management conditions ahead of Halloween, when large crowds are expected.
The on-site inspection brought together about 20 participants, including District Mayor Kim, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Ko Beom-seok, Yongsan Police Station Chief Choi Jong-yun and Yongsan District Council Speaker Jang Jeong-ho, as well as representatives from community organizations including the Autonomous Crime Prevention Patrol Federation, the Tourism Special Zone Association and the Itaewon Merchants Service Corps.
Participants first visited the memorial for victims of the Itaewon crowd crush to pay their respects, then examined safety conditions along World Food Culture Street, including pedestrian flow routes and sections at risk of crowd congestion.
They then convened an inter-agency meeting at the Yongsan-gu on-site operations center at 19 Itaewon-ro 23-gil to share the findings of the inspection. Participants reviewed each agency's safety measures and discussed areas for improvement. They also confirmed the real-time crowd monitoring system using crowd-detection closed-circuit television cameras.
The meeting opened with a commendation ceremony by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, followed by safety briefings from Yongsan Police Station and Yongsan-gu on their Halloween plans and a discussion of key agenda items. Participants reviewed each agency's response framework in preparation for crowd surges during the Halloween period and discussed ways to coordinate rapid joint responses and real-time information sharing.
"I hope this serves as an opportunity for relevant agencies and the local community to again sharpen their awareness of accident prevention ahead of Halloween," District Mayor Kim said. "The district is doing everything it can on safety management through department-level inspections and preparedness meetings."
He added that police, fire department personnel, district office staff and local merchants would communicate and cooperate closely throughout the Halloween period to ensure it concludes without any safety incidents.
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