The streets near Hongik University Station are crowded with people ahead of Halloween day, Oct. 28, 2023. Yonhap

The Seoul city government will deploy patrol forces and implement traffic controls in the city's 15 most crowded districts during the upcoming Halloween week to prevent overcrowding, officials said Wednesday.

The city has designated a "concentrated Halloween safety management period" from Friday to Nov. 3 to enhance patrols and monitoring against overcrowding in the 15 designated areas, officials said.

The 15 locations include the special tourist zones in Itaewon and Hongdae, a nightlife area near Konkuk University, Gangnam Station and a shopping district in Myeongdong.

During this period, public workers will be dispatched to the sites for crowd patrol, to install safety fences and to control traffic.

The city also plans to operate situation rooms in collaboration with the interior ministry, district offices, police and firefighters to monitor the sites in real time through surveillance cameras, allowing for a swift response in case of an emergency.

As part of the efforts, crowd-monitoring CCTVs will be used to automatically count the number of people per unit area and immediately issue safety alerts to authorities and citizens in the event of safety risks.

In Itaewon alone, around 4,200 safety management personnel will be positioned to disperse crowds and control the flow of people exiting Itaewon Station, if needed.

On Oct. 29, 2022, 159 people were killed in the country's worst-ever crowd crush in Seoul's Itaewon nightlife district during the Halloween weekend.

"We will not let our guard down during this safety management period and cooperate closely with relevant institutions to thoroughly manage public safety," the city's deputy mayor said. (Yonhap)