"Hundreds of Thousands of Won for a Spot": 107 Cases of Illegal Space-Occupying for Fireworks Festival… Fines Cannot Be Imposed Even When Caught

The Seoul World Fireworks Festival drew one million people, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government launched a crackdown on illegal space-occupying practices for the first time this year.

Starting on the 4th, the day before the festival, authorities collected unattended mats and items left around Yeouido Hangang Park.

Cases where people were personally guarding their spots were excluded from confiscation.

This marks the first time space-occupying practices have been cracked down on since the festival began in 2000.

The number of detected cases reached 107 this year.

However, because it was impossible to confirm whether illegal commercial activities actually took place on-site in a public space, separate fines were not imposed.

On second-hand trading platforms, posts demanding hundreds of thousands of won in exchange for holding good spots appeared one after another.

While measures such as revising ordinances related to the use of Hangang Park to ban preemptive seat-occupying during large-scale events like the fireworks festival were brought up, they have not led to full-scale discussions.

Once again, trash piled up in the areas where the festival took place.

Cans, plastic bottles, and disposable containers were scattered across Hangang Park, and used mats were left behind.

Some 1,200 Hanwha executives and employees cleaned up trash until late into the night on the day of the festival, and the next day, around 50 members of a civic group picked up the remaining garbage from Mapo Bridge to Wonhyo Bridge.

About 100 officials from the Future Hangang Headquarters and contracted service providers also engaged in cleanup work until the following morning, clearing away more than 10 8-ton truckloads of waste from the Yeouido district alone.

Reported by Yeo Hyeon-gyo | Video by Na Hong-hee | Graphics by Yang Hae-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.