Busan braces for 1 million visitors at fireworks festival

Busan city officials conducted a final safety inspection Tuesday ahead of the Busan Fireworks Festival on Nov. 7, which is expected to draw more than 1 million visitors.

Mayor Jeon Jae-soo chaired a meeting of the city's Safety Management Committee, bringing together about 40 safety officials from local disaster management agencies and civilian explosives experts to review the safety plan and reaffirm inter-agency cooperation.

Participants reviewed a broad range of measures, including the operation of a central situation room, crowd safety, public transportation, and fire department and maritime safety management. Particular attention was paid to crowd-density risks arising from the expansion of paid viewing areas — an issue raised at a regional safety council meeting Thursday — and the safety plan was revised accordingly.

The city has held preparatory review meetings with relevant officials since September. On Thursday, the deputy mayor convened a regional safety council to examine pedestrian flow, evacuation routes, and medical, fire department and maritime response systems for the festival.

Given the scale of the event, the city plans to deploy about 7,000 safety and crowd-control personnel — the largest number ever — including 1,921 city employees. Officials will monitor CCTV footage from cameras installed throughout the venue in real time and manage crowd movement at key zones including Gwangalli Beach, Geumnyeonsan, the waterfront park, Yongho Starlight Park, Igidae Eoulmadag and Dongbaekseom.

"The premise of every policy is public safety," Mayor Jeon said. "We must build a solid foundation from the basics so that there is not a single margin of error in accident prevention and on-site response." He urged all agencies to remain fully alert and do their utmost in the field until every visitor has safely returned home.

The 21st Busan Fireworks Festival, organized by the Busan Festival Committee, will run for about an hour starting at 7 p.m. on Nov. 7 across Gwangalli Beach, Igidae and Dongbaekseom, featuring internationally invited fireworks displays and a Busan multi-fireworks show lighting up the autumn night sky. Pre-event programming beginning at 2 p.m. will include a fireworks street fair, a fireworks prologue performance and an opening ceremony.