Seoul stampede: Halloween events, K-pop show cancelled as South Korea mourns victims

A deadly stampede at a Halloween event led to the death of over 150 people in South Korea’s Seoul on Saturday night. Following this, Halloween celebrations, festivals, events and parades have been cancelled in the country and South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol has declared a period of national mourning till November 5.

According to Korean Times, Everland theme park has closed all festivals, including a parade featuring classic Halloween characters such as skeletons and witches, till November 20. Another theme park, Lotte World, located in southeastern Seoul, has also cancelled its Halloween-themed events.

In the wake of the tragedy, BTS’ agency Big Hit announced that it is postponing all the activities scheduled for Jin’s recent release ‘Astronaut’ with Coldplay. Taking to Twitter, the agency confirmed that the listening party and the release of the lyric video of his song will be pushed to a later date.

‘We would like to inform you that the event and content below have been postponed. 12 PM, October 30 (KST) Stationhead Listening Party, 0 AM, October 31 (KST) ‘The Astronaut’ Lyric Video. The changed schedules will be announced through a separate notice. We ask for your generous understanding. Thank you,’ the tweeted.

BTS member J-Hope has deleted the Halloween photos he had posted prior to the tragedy.
SM Entertainment agency that represents several popular K-Pop artistes including Girls Generation, NCT and Aespa, has cancelled its annual Halloween party as well.

This was the first Halloween event since the pandemic at which South Koreans had not been mandated to wear face masks outdoors.

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