BTS shows shine light on flaws in Busan’s event management

SEOUL – BTS played two sold-out concerts at Busan Asiad Main Stadium on June 12 and 13, drawing approximately 220,000 fans over the two days as part of their ongoing Arirang world tour.

While the concerts concluded without major safety incidents, they brought longstanding issues surrounding major K-pop concerts to the fore, including crowd management, accommodation pricing and illegal ticket resales.

The most immediate controversy emerged on opening night, when the concert began about 75 minutes late, owing to entry delays for the audience.

According to BTS’ agency Hybe, multiple factors contributed to the delays, including confusion surrounding on-site guidance, congestion at fan gift distribution areas, and hiccups in merchandise and package collection.

Fans at the concert described long lines and difficulties navigating the venue. Some attendees posted on social media that staff appeared uncertain about directions within the stadium, with no method of communication between them, while others pointed to a lack of multilingual guidance despite a large international audience.

“BTS’ concert consisted of a large number of international concert attendees, but many announcements were made only in Korean,” one attendee wrote online. “Those who spoke Korean had to step in to translate information for overseas visitors.”

The entry delays occurred despite a safety operation involving 3,000 personnel, including event staff, local government officials, police officers, firefighters and public agency employees.

Accommodation-related complaints also resurfaced ahead of the concerts.

According to data from the Korea Tourism Data Lab, Busan accounted for 185 of the 368 tourism-related complaints filed nationwide in May, representing more than half of all such reports. More than 80 per cent came from foreign visitors.

Complaints involving accommodation made up the overwhelming majority of the cases, with reports of unilateral reservation cancellations, excessive cancellation fees and sudden price increases.

A joint survey conducted earlier in 2026 by the Korea Fair Trade Commission and the Korea Consumer Agency found that average accommodation prices near the concert venue at the concert weekend were 2.4 times higher than normal weekend rates, with some properties raising prices by up to 7½ times.

The issue was not entirely new. Similar complaints emerged during BTS’ Yet To Come In Busan concert in 2022 and have periodically surfaced during other major events in the city. However, the scale of the complaints in 2026 renewed calls for stronger consumer protection measures during major tourism events.

Illegal ticket resales also remained a challenge.

Busan police said they detected 10 scalping cases involving 11 individuals during intensive enforcement operations around the stadium. The authorities reported cases in which tickets originally priced at 220,000 won (S$187) were resold for as much as 680,000 won.

Police said most transactions involved concert wristbands that were transferred between buyers and sellers after entry credentials had been issued.

“K-pop’s global reputation and a healthy concert culture are harmed by illegal ticket resales,” a Busan Metropolitan Police Agency official said, adding that the authorities would continue crackdowns at major concerts and sporting events. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK