A week-long national mourning has been declared in South Korea after the deadly stampede on October 29 in the Itaewon district of the capital Seoul, which left at least 154 people dead. In a show of solidarity, most Halloween festivals, events and parades as well as performances by K-pop stars have been canceled in the wake of the tragedy, according to Korea’s Yonhap news agency. Among them, the Busan One Asia Festival where many artists from the Korean music scene were to perform on October 30.
Likewise, Hybe, the production house of the famous K-pop group Bangtan Boys (BTS), postponed the promotion operations for the solo single of Jin (one of its members).The Astronaut, unveiled on October 28, 2022. Similar decision from the side of the EXO group for one of its members, Chen. His mini album Last Scene, which was scheduled for release on October 31, is postponed. On his Twitter account (link in Korean), group agency SM Entertainment specifies that the decision was taken following the “Itaewon disaster”. SM Entertainment has also given up on its event dedicated to Halloween which was to be held on October 30. Just like several large companies, indicates the Yonhap agency, which have canceled their promotional events around Halloween.
Film distributors and broadcasters have suspended the promotion of works about to be unveiled to the public. Netflix (South Korea) has, for example, delayed the press conference of his series The Fabulous. On the actors side, comedian Jung Woo-sung seen in Hunt (the directorial debut of Lee Jung-jae, the star of Squid Gamepresented at Cannes), marked the mourning by posting a black square on his Instagram page.
Her colleague Kim Hye-soo (currently starring in the series Under The Queen Umbrella on Netflix in South Korea) had posted in a “story” (image that disappears after 24 hours) the emergency numbers made available to the population after the Itaewon tragedy.
The entertainment industry is itself in mourning. Among the victims of the stampede is 25-year-old actor and singer Lee Ji-han whose death was announced by his agency, 935 Entertainment, reports the Korean Joongang Daily.