6 Million Won for a Barbecue, 300,000 Won for a Mat... Intense Competition for Prime Spots at the Fireworks Festival

Skyrocketing Prices for Prime Fireworks Festival Seats
Even Free Hangang Park Spots Selling for Hundreds of Thousands of Won
"Fireworks Premium" Drives Up Prices for Hotel Rooms and Parking
Scalping Regulations Fail to Cover Gray Areas

The competition for prime viewing spots is heating up ahead of the "Seoul International Fireworks Festival 2026," which will be held on September 5. Despite the fact that Hanwha Group is hosting this as a "free citizen’s event" as part of its social contribution activities, two VIP seats at a restaurant with a clear view of the fireworks are being sold for 6 million won. In addition, official admission tickets, hotel accommodations, and nearby parking passes are being traded at premium prices.

The controversy has grown particularly intense due to so-called "seat scalping," where people reserve prime spots in the public Hangang Park ahead of time and then sell or rent these places for a fee. This has sparked debate about the private transaction of opportunities to enjoy public spaces. The problem is that, unlike paid tickets, it is difficult to regulate the sale of free public park spaces under existing scalping laws, and it is also challenging to prove actual commercial transactions. As a result, current regulations alone are insufficient to stop such practices. Therefore, there are urgent calls for effective measures to prevent the breakdown of public order and morality.

The scene during the 2019 Seoul International Fireworks Festival (left) and the menu of a restaurant near the Hangang Park selling two VIP seats with a good view of the fireworks for 6 million won. Photo by Hyunmin Kim · Naver Map

According to Seoul City on September 4, the Seoul International Fireworks Festival will take place on September 5 in the Yeouido and Ichon Hangang Park areas. This year, the festival lasts for two days, including a pre-event on the 4th, with the main event fireworks show starting at 8:00 p.m. on the 5th. As more than one million people attend the festival every year, the city plans to deploy 6,800 safety personnel this year.

From 6 Million Won Restaurant VIP Seats to 500,000 Won Ticket Scalping

As excitement for the event rises, viewing spaces themselves are being traded as commodities. A restaurant near Hangang Park is offering two VIP seats with a good view of the fireworks for 6 million won.

Even official paid admission tickets are being sold at marked-up prices. This year, Hanwha is operating the entire Nodeulseom as a paid "Orange Play Zone," with ticket prices ranging from 110,000 to 220,000 won, depending on the area. However, as the event approaches, resale posts have appeared on secondhand trading platforms, offering these tickets for as much as 500,000 won. This is more than double the highest official ticket price of 220,000 won.

The special viewing packages sold by Starbucks Yeouido Hangang Park branch have also become targets of price gouging. The packages allowing two people to view the fireworks from the store were sold at 200,000 and 300,000 won, depending on the river view, and all 27 packages reportedly sold out within about 30 seconds. Subsequently, on secondhand markets, posts have appeared with some people selling these packages for 650,000 won and others expressing willingness to buy them for 500,000 won.

Ahead of the Seoul International Fireworks Festival, there are increasing posts selling or renting accommodation and prime spots with views of the fireworks at high prices. Screenshot from Danggeun Market

Even Free Hangang Park Spots Are Now Being Sold

The biggest controversy centers not around the paid admission areas, but the free Hangang Park. On secondhand trading platforms, posts have appeared offering prime fireworks-viewing spots in Yeouido Hangang Park for 400,000 won, and there was a recruitment post offering to pay 300,000 won to someone who would reserve a spot until 5:00 p.m. on the day of the event—which attracted 99 applicants. In addition, other posts have offered between 39,000 and 50,000 won for someone to secure a spot on behalf of the purchaser.

Citizens waiting for the event at Yeouido Hangang Park during the 2022 Seoul International Fireworks Festival. Photo by The Asia Business Daily

At the site, people were already laying out mats to claim spots before the event. Under the stair seats below Wonhyo Bridge, known as one of the most popular viewing areas in Hangang Park, mats were spread out from the day before, and some had warnings from Seoul City stating "No Early Seat Reservation."

Parking spaces have also become commodities. On secondhand trading platforms, posts offering parking passes at buildings near the event venue for 20,000 to 30,000 won have been posted. Meanwhile, Hanwha is also providing pre-reservations for parking through KakaoT, making it possible to reserve parking spaces near the event in advance. Reportedly, the demand for parking reservations has been high not only in Yeouido but also at nearby stations like Noryangjin, Yongsan, and Gongdeok.

Accommodation prices are also being determined by the quality of the "fireworks view." Secondhand trading platforms have seen posts selling hotel rooms near Yeouido for 3.08 million won and a post for a room in a Yongsan hotel at 1.1 million won. On the day of the fireworks festival, some rooms with a view of the Hangang River are reportedly priced at 1 million to 5 million won—two to four times higher than usual—and there are even rooms close to 6 million won.

Why Is It So Hard to Stop the Trading of Public Venue Spaces?

At the core of this recurring phenomenon is a regulatory vacuum. Revised versions of the Performance Act and the 국민체육진흥법, promulgated in February, now ban illegal purchase and sale of tickets regardless of macro software use, and can impose penalties up to 50 times the sales amount for illegal sales in order to strengthen anti-scalping regulations.

However, the tickets for the Seoul International Fireworks Festival are not easily regulated under the current Performance Act. Because the act is based on "artistic performances," simple festival admission tickets do not fall under its provisions.

Transactions of free Hangang Park seats are even more complicated. Since these do not involve the purchase or sale of ownership or usage rights to specific seats, it is difficult to prove who actually received money to reserve spots. As a result, apart from criticism that these practices undermine public facility usage order, there are significant limitations to imposing immediate sanctions under the existing legal system.

Banner posted at Hangang Park. Seoul City

Seoul City is responding by putting up warning banners and conducting on-site guidance, while also requesting secondhand trading platforms such as Danggeun Market to delete and refrain from posting about fireworks festival-related ticket and seat trading. The festival organizer, Hanwha, is also independently monitoring secondhand sites and reporting related posts. However, Seoul City has acknowledged that, since Hangang Park is a public asset, there are limits to what can be enforced.

There has been discussion of amending the Hangang Park Usage Management Ordinance to prohibit reserving spots for a certain period before large-scale events, but no concrete institutional reform has yet been implemented.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.