Scalpers Charge Up to 300,000 Won for Prime Seoul Fireworks Spots as City Says It Lacks Enforcement Tools

Prime viewing spots for Seoul’s World Fireworks Festival are selling for as much as 300,000 won, as scalpers move ahead of the event in Yeouido Hangang Park.

Paid tickets for designated areas on Nodeulseom, originally priced between 110,000 and 220,000 won, are being offered on online marketplaces for nearly double their face value. The festival is scheduled to take place on the 5th.

The resale market has expanded beyond tickets. Hotel stays and restaurant reservations near Hangang Park are being offered with added charges. Sellers are also claiming free public park spaces and transferring them for hundreds of thousands of won. Some advertise a “spot reservation service,” promising to queue early and lay out picnic mats on a customer’s behalf.

Seoul says it has no clear legal basis to directly stop the trade in pre-claimed spaces. Such transactions do not technically involve admission tickets, while the Performance Act defines a performance as an artistic presentation such as music, theater, or musicals. The fireworks festival does not fall within that definition, and the spaces do not involve immovable structures that would provide another basis for penalties.

The city plans to request that secondhand platforms delete relevant posts and conduct on-site guidance. From the afternoon of the 3rd, two days before the festival, it will put up banners asking visitors not to claim spaces in advance and to help maintain order.