Seoul's Hongdae district drew an estimated 120,000 to 125,000 people on Halloween, while 30,000 to 32,000 were in Itaewon at about 10 p.m., according to Seoul metropolitan government data. Hongdae remained classified as very crowded, and Itaewon as crowded, with visitors in their 20s making up 50.6 percent of Itaewon's gathering.
Police said they would deploy about 7,800 personnel nationwide, including at 14 key Seoul locations, for crowd management. In Itaewon, some visitors laid flowers near the site of the 2022 crowd crush that killed 159 people, while witnesses described streets and alleys filled with people.