안전한 카지노 사이트

Nearly two years have passed since a deadly crowd disaster during Halloween weekend shocked the world on Oct. 29, 2022. That traumatic event led to 159 deaths and left permanent scars in central Seoul’s multicultural Itaewon area. As Halloween 2024 approaches, many are questioning whether the neighborhood will see a return to what was once one of the most vibrant and profitable weekends for local businesses.

Yet business owners and event organizers in the area said they are not yet prepared to resume Halloween celebrations as they did in the past.

“I think Halloween is naturally going to be slightly toned down for a while, particularly in Itaewon,” Ali Zahoor, co-organizer of Seoul Drag Parade, said.

“Seoul Drag Parade has a couple of Halloween-themed shows planned,” Heezy Yang, another co-organizer, added. “But we tried to choose dates and locations for them cautiously and respectfully, considering what happened in Itaewon.”

While many anticipated that this year would mark a return to normalcy, as it eventually must, nobody interviewed by The Korea Times felt confident enough to assert that the time has come.

“I believe that a return to Halloween in some form is in order for Itaewon,” said the owner of Lit Lounge, who is known by the name Pinnacle The Hustler. 사설 “However, not enough time has passed for us to fully embrace the blood, guts and gore of the holiday. We’re still living in the shadow of the 2022 Halloween tragedy.”

Pinnacle decided to host a Halloween costume party this year, but with some guardrails put in place in order to “stay away from the dark side of Halloween.”

He encourages anyone planning to dress up for Halloween to choose light, fun costumes, such as video game or comic book characters like Sonic the Hedgehog or Sailor Moon, rather than zombies or demons.

“It would be beneficial for our Itaewon businesses and customers to use their creativity to highlight the brighter, more fun aspects of Halloween,” he said. “One year I saw Tetris shapes walking around. They kept stopping to pose for pictures while they connected with each other — it was hilarious. This is the type of Halloween celebration we should be embracing.”

Simon Walsh at Itaewon Pub had similar thoughts about avoiding the more macabre elements of Halloween this year.

“It could be seen as insensitive putting death-related displays up this time of year,” he said. “You don’t really want zombies or skeletons or murder or death hanging up in your bar during that night, I think, which is quite counterintuitive considering that’s what Halloween always has been.”