The streets that fill up on Halloween have no invitation, no stage and no organiser's tent. Nobody opened the event — people simply gather. Which left one question unanswered for a long time: if there is no organiser, whose job is safety? In Korea it is now written down.
1. There is a proviso for “no organiser, or an unclear one”. In that case the head of the competent local government «shall» draw up the safety plan. The sentence entered the Framework Act on 26 December 2023.
2. The threshold is 1,000 people. The Decree covers “a local festival at which the peak number of spectators at any moment is expected to reach 1,000 or more”.
3. “Crowd crush accident” is a «named» term in the Act — article 3 lists it alongside fire, collapse and explosion as a social disaster.
The Act gives the accident a name
Framework Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety, article 3 (Definitions)
(b) Social disaster: damage of a scale prescribed by Presidential Decree arising from fire, collapse, explosion, traffic accident (including aviation and maritime accidents), chemical, biological and radiological accidents, environmental pollution accidents, crowd crush accidents and the like …
It sits inside the list. Being named means the machinery attached to those provisions follows — prevention, preparedness, response and recovery operate in the same place as they do for fire or collapse.
“If there is no organiser” — one proviso answers it
Article 66-11 (Safety measures for local festivals) (1) The head of a central administrative agency or of a local government intending to hold a local festival prescribed by Presidential Decree shall draw up a festival safety management plan and take other necessary safety measures. Provided that, for a local festival at which mass participation is expected and «which has no organiser or an unclear one», the head of the competent local government shall draw up the plan and take other necessary safety measures, having regard to the expected number of participants and the location, as prescribed by Presidential Decree. <Amended 26 December 2023>
The main clause and the proviso cover different situations. The main clause is festivals held by public bodies, paragraph (3) is festivals held privately, and the proviso is the festival nobody held. That last slot was filled in December 2023 — an amendment made after 2022.
| Who holds it | Who writes the plan | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Central agency or local government | that body's head draws it up | Act art. 66-11(1), main clause |
| A private organiser | the organiser, plus advance notice to the city, county or district head | Act art. 66-11(3) |
| No organiser, or unclear | the competent city, county or district head | Act art. 66-11(1) proviso · Decree art. 73-9(4) |
From what size — 1,000 people, and fire
Enforcement Decree article 73-9 (1) “A local festival prescribed by Presidential Decree” means any of the following:
1. a local festival at which the peak number of spectators at any moment during the festival is expected to reach 1,000 or more;
2. a local festival posing a risk of accident by reason of its location or the materials used, being:
(a) one held on a mountain or on water;
(b) one using explosive substances such as fire, fireworks, petroleum products or flammable gas.
Two routes in. Either the number of people or what is being used. A Halloween event using fire or fireworks falls under 2(b) whatever the headcount — being small is not an exemption.
📌 “At any moment” is the operative phrase. Not the daily total but the busiest single instant. At a street event where people flow in and out, the cumulative count can be enormous while the density at one moment is what the rule looks at — wording that reads as matched to how crowd accidents actually happen. That reading is ours.
Decree article 73-9(4) (inserted 26 March 2024) widens it one more step — even below 1,000, a festival the competent city, county or district head “deems to require a plan”, having regard to expected numbers and location, is included.
What must be in the plan
The Decree fixes five items — and they double as things you can look for on the ground.
| What the text requires | What it looks like on site | If it is missing |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Outline of the festival | is the area and the timing posted? | nobody knows when it ends, so everyone leaves at once |
| 2. Safety staff, organisation and duties | identifiable vests or armbands | there is no one to tell |
| 3. Fire prevention and «measures against casualties from crowding» | one-way routes, barriers, entry limits | this is the critical line |
| 4. Securing and deploying safety personnel | is anyone stationed at the pinch points? | narrow lanes, slopes and stairs turn dangerous |
| 5. Emergency procedures and contacts | signage and announcements | it decides the first few minutes |
The plan cannot be written alone either. Paragraph (3) of the same Decree article requires “the opinions of the competent local government, fire station and police station and other relevant safety agencies to be heard «in advance»”. And Act article 66-11(2) lets the Minister of the Interior and Safety or a mayor or governor inspect implementation and request corrections, which the body receiving the request “shall comply with absent special grounds”.
What an individual can do that night
The provisions are addressed to organisers. None of them places a duty on an attendee. But knowing the five items makes it visible whether a place has been prepared or not.
- Find the way out before you go in. Most people try to leave by the way they came.
- Do not stop on slopes, stairs or narrowing lanes. Step to the wide side even for a photo.
- Dense crowd with no visible safety staff is itself a signal — the text requires deployment under item 4.
- Agree a meeting point «outside». Pushing back in to find someone is what makes it worse.
- If you start to be pressed, bring your arms in front of your chest — it preserves room to breathe.
- Alcohol slows the decision. Plan the way home as well — the drink-driving article sets out, from the text, why refusing the test is treated more harshly.
Questions that remain
Is an event with no organiser really covered?
Yes. The proviso to article 66-11(1) addresses “no organiser or an unclear one” and says the head of the competent local government «shall» draw up the plan. “Shall”, not “may”. The proviso entered by the amendment of 26 December 2023.
From how many people?
Decree article 73-9(1)1 sets “a peak of 1,000 spectators or more at any moment”. But subparagraph 2 separately covers, regardless of numbers, festivals on a mountain or water, or using fire, fireworks, petroleum products or flammable gas; and paragraph (4) brings in festivals below 1,000 where the city, county or district head deems a plan necessary.
Does the Act actually use the term “crowd crush accident”?
It does — in the social disaster list at article 3(1)(b), alongside fire, collapse, explosion, traffic, CBR and environmental pollution accidents.
What about a privately run Halloween party?
Article 66-11(3) governs it — the organiser must draw up a safety plan and notify the competent city, county or district head in advance, and the same applies to changes. The office notified may require supplementation, which the organiser must follow absent justifiable grounds (paragraph (4)).
What if these provisions are ignored?
We did not read as far as the penalties this time. What this article establishes is who must do what — the rest is listed below as unverified.
The slot for “an event nobody held” sat empty for a long time. It now reads “the head of the competent local government shall” — which is why this article starts by simply copying that line out.
Sources
- Korea Ministry of Government Legislation, National Law Information Centre — Framework Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety, in force 22 July 2026, Act no. 21313. Source for art. 3(1)(b) (“crowd crush accidents” in the social disaster list), art. 66-11(1) main clause and proviso (the proviso amended 26 December 2023), (2) (inspection and correction requests) and (3), (4) (private organisers: plan, advance notice, supplementation). Read from the source text on 17 September 2026. The Korean original is authoritative; the renderings are ours.
- Same, Enforcement Decree — Enforcement Decree, in force 22 July 2026, Decree no. 36516, article 73-9: (1) (1,000 at peak; mountain or water; fire, fireworks, petroleum, flammable gas), (2) (the five plan items), (3) (advance opinions from local government, fire and police), (4) (inserted 26 March 2024 — no or unclear organiser; below 1,000 where deemed necessary).
- Our own reading — the three-way “who holds it” table, turning the five plan items into what to look for on site, the note on “at any moment”, and the six lines for the night are our summary of the text.
Where to check further
- Penalties and liability for ignoring these provisions. We read only as far as the duties. The Act's penalty chapter and liability rules elsewhere were not examined.
- The damage threshold for a “crowd crush accident”. Article 3(1)(b) defers to “a scale prescribed by Presidential Decree”, and we did not open that threshold.
- Police and fire powers on the ground. The Act on the Performance of Duties by Police Officers and similar statutes are not covered here.
- Local variation. The provisions are national, but actual crowd management plans differ by local government — individual plans were not checked.
Written 17 September 2026. The provisions quoted are the source text at the National Law Information Centre; the tables and the on-site checks are ours. The rest of the same night is in the coloured contact lens article and the snack labelling article. What actually sends people to hospital over a Korean holiday is set out with ambulance figures in the holiday accident article; what to do if someone collapses is in the CPR article; night and weekend care is in holiday emergency care. This is general information, not legal advice.
