Hanwha Group's Seoul International Fireworks Festival opened at 8 p.m. on the 5th around Yeouido in Seoul. The event, first held in 2000, has run for more than two decades as one of the group's flagship community programs.
Hanwha allocated a total of 13 billion won to this year's festival, according to industry sources. Of that, 4.5 billion won went to safety management alone, up about 17% from 3.85 billion won a year earlier.
The company said it focused heavily on accident prevention because the festival draws more than 1 million spectators. It deployed about 5,000 safety and crowd-control personnel, the largest number to date. Hanwha is also running Orange Safety, a crowd-density monitoring app developed with mobile carriers, and an integrated closed-circuit television control system built on KT's 5G network slicing technology.
Viewing areas were expanded significantly. At the urging of Hanwha Group Chairman Seung-youn Kim, who called for the display to be staged higher and larger, seating was extended from central Yeouido to areas near Mapo Bridge, Wonhyo Bridge and the Hangang Railway Bridge. The company said the heavy spending on an event that generates no revenue reflects Kim's management philosophy of "together, far."
This year's theme is "In Search of Your Light." Fireworks teams from three countries are taking part, including South Korea, represented by Hanwha, along with the United States and Britain. The main event begins at 8 p.m.
The British team opens the program with a display set to music including "Soda Pop," a track from a Netflix animated film. The U.S. team follows with a large-scale display set to "Carmina Burana: O Fortuna."
Hanwha's own display draws on Vincent van Gogh's "The Starry Night." Another sequence is set to Lee So-ra's "The Wind Blows." Key highlights include a tower fireworks display and a bridge sequence staged at Wonhyo Bridge. A symmetrical display fired from both sides above the bridge is designed to give spectators farther away a wider view.
About 1,200 Hanwha employee volunteers will clean the Yeouido Hangang Park area late into the night after the festival ends as part of a cleanup campaign. Those unable to attend can watch a live broadcast on the company's official YouTube channel, Hanwha TV.
Separately, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency blocked vehicle traffic on Yeoui-dong-ro, between the southern end of Mapo Bridge and the 63 Building, from 3 p.m. until midnight. Wonhyo Bridge is closed to vehicles in both directions until 3 a.m. on the 6th to allow for event setup and teardown.
Seoul Metro said trains on both directions of the line passing through Yeouinaru Station began skipping the station at 6:11 p.m. The operator plans to maintain the measure until 10 p.m.
