‘Prime spot for 400,000 won’: Paid seat-holding surges before Seoul fireworks festival

Prime viewing spots at Seoul’s free fireworks festival are being offered online for hundreds of thousands of won, turning the annual scramble for space into a paid reservation business.

“

We sent official notices to sites such as Joonggonara and Karrot asking them to block posts trading tickets or seats.

Ahead of the 2026 Seoul World Fireworks Festival on Oct. 5, listings appeared on secondhand trading platforms offering to secure desirable places at Yeouido Han River Park. One post on Karrot offered a prime four-person spot for 400,000 won. Another promised 300,000 won to anyone who held a place until 5 p.m., attracting 99 applicants. Other listings offered between 39,000 and 50,000 won for someone to reserve a spot with a clear view.

The festival requires no admission ticket, and visitors can watch freely from areas including Yeouido Han River Park. Competition for good locations has therefore grown each year. This year, the practice has expanded from arriving early to claim a place to paying someone else to queue, lay down a mat and hold it on a customer’s behalf.

“

The city is understood not to have the legal authority to actively crack down.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has asked secondhand platforms to block posts involving festival tickets or seating. A city official said the government sent formal notices to platforms including Joonggonara and Karrot. The planned measures remain recommendations rather than legally binding orders. The official said the city did not appear to have the authority to conduct aggressive legal enforcement and would instead put up banners and provide guidance at the site.

“

If an individual monopolizes public property and trades it privately, they could potentially be subject to sanctions under relevant laws or ordinances.

The festival’s organizing office has also asked platforms to monitor and remove posts involving invitation tickets. Lawyer Kwak Jun-ho said private trading of publicly owned space could potentially fall under relevant laws or local ordinances, but proving that a person deliberately reserved a spot for payment would be difficult. He added that there are few investigation or prosecution precedents, and the absence of regular festival tickets could make penalties especially difficult.

“

It may be difficult in practice to impose penalties because it is not easy to verify whether someone deliberately reserved the spot for trading or how much was paid.