Restaurants are stocking up and shops are preparing for fans to flood Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square as BTS’s long-awaited comeback concert on March 21 raises hopes of a windfall for local businesses.

With some 260,000 fans expected to gather in the area, officials are also treating the event like a national festival by beefing up safety measures.


Thousands of servings on concert day

Nearby businesses are adding staff to handle the influx of customers and some plan to stay open late to cash in.

“I usually sell about 100 fish cake skewers a day, but maybe I could sell 2,000 on concert day,” said Koo Gi-sun on Tuesday, who has run a fish cake street cart in an alley near Gwanghwamun Square for 25 years. “I am planning to call my son in so we can work together that day.”

“We usually have two people working, but we plan to bring in two more on concert day,” said Ma Young-ran, who works at a nearby Korean restaurant. “We normally prepare enough ingredients for 500 servings a day, but that day we will get ready for 1,500.”

Son Seong-jun, manager of a nearby bakery, is considering hiring additional part-time workers.

A bar in the area has announced plans to operate as an after-party venue by playing BTS videos and music late into the night. “We are marking the day as BTS Day and will play only a concert playlist,” said the bar owner. “If you want to soak in the afterglow once the show is over, come by.”

ARMY recruits volunteers for cleanup

BTS fan club ARMY has begun recruiting volunteers to help with cleanup on the day of the concert. The plan is for people, even without tickets, to gather near the venue, enjoy the atmosphere and then help clean up once the concert ends.

An "important notice" for foreign fans has been circulated among ARMY members, urging fans to keep the peace and refrain from bad behavior.

“The concert area is home to historically and culturally significant heritage sites that must be protected,” ARMY said in its notice. “Any overnight camping, blocking sidewalks, climbing structures, accessing rooftops or occupying restricted areas can damage protected spaces and create serious public safety risks.”

“If even one incident harms cultural property or public order, the criticism will fall on BTS,” said the fan club.

BTS all around — quite literally

An electronic billboard on a building near Sejong-daero in Jongno District, central Seoul, repeatedly displayed an ad on Tuesday that announced the concert. Another BTS advertisement on the steps of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts caught the attention of tourists.

There is growing interest in whether the large electronic billboards around Gwanghwamun Square will be filled with BTS-related content that day.

“We hear that HYBE, BTS’s agency, or Netflix, the concert’s streaming partner, has secured the advertising rights,” one industry official said. “We expect the billboards to show not only ads but also concert-related footage on the day of the event.”

“Exactly how the billboards will be used remains confidential, but we are in related discussions with the BTS side,” said a representative from one billboard operator.

Not every place around Gwanghwamun plans to cash in on the BTS boom. KT headquarters, which had been mentioned as a prime viewing spot near the stage, will be completely closed on concert day for safety, and all of its indoor commercial facilities, including cafes, will be shuttered.

The musical “Anna Karenina,” currently running at the Sejong Center through late March, will not be staged on the day of the event. Nearby attractions, including Gyeongbok Palace, the National Palace Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, will also close.

Ticket and wristband scams

The initial tickets for the concert are sold out, but numerous posts online are offering tickets for hundreds of thousands of won.

People are posting on social media with offers to remove disposable wristbands used as entry passes and illegally transfer them to someone else for a fee.

As of Monday, police had already identified 111 cases of illegal ticket resales and asked the relevant platforms to block the listings. They are investigating three complaints involving fraudulent ticket transfers as well.

“Anyone asking you to send money for a ticket should be treated as a scammer,” said Park Jeong-bo, commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. “You could end up having your personal information stolen or even become an accomplice, so people need to be careful.”

Safety first

Safety concerns over crowding at the venue are a major worry. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency plans to deploy about 4,800 officers to the site on concert day and adopt stadium-style crowd management by allowing spectators in via 29 designated routes.

The Seoul Metro will have trains bypass stations near the venue, including Gwanghwamun Station, City Hall Station and Gyeongbokgung Station. HYBE, the concert organizer, will provide 4,300 safety personnel.

“Facilities people usually pass by without a second thought, such as subway ventilation shafts or construction-site barriers, can become hazards in front of a large crowd,” said Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, urging thorough preparation and caution.


This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY IM SOUNG-BIN, KWAK JOO-YOUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]