MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd December, 2022) More than 650 South Korean police officers will be mobilized for crowd control at major tourist areas across the country this weekend for Catholic Christmas, the National Police Agency (NPA) said on Friday.
A total of 656 police officers and eight Swat teams will be mobilized to control crowds at 37 tourist spots, including the Myeongdong area in Seoul or Haeundae Beach in Busan this weekend, the NPA said, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency.
Police expects that about 500,000 people will visit the main tourist areas at Christmas, while about 1.2 million people will participate in New Year's Eve festivities at 269 locations across the country, the NPA said, adding that police will monitor crowd density in real time to avoid crushes.
Police are still discussing the number of personnel that will be dispatched to locations to control the crowds during the New Year period, the agency added.
The decision to strengthen precaution measures comes as an aftermath of a tragic and deadly Halloween crowd crush incident in Seoul. On October 29, the deadliest crowd crush in South Korean history occurred in a narrow downhill alley near Hamilton Hotel in Seoul after tens of thousands of people gathered in the party district amid Halloween celebrations, resulting in at least 156 people dead, and 30 others seriously injured. Most of the victims were in their twenties, with 100 of them being women.
