Korea’s Fire Festival: A Victim of its Own Success?

The Haman Fireworks Festival, a signature event of South Gyeongsang Province, is set to take place again this year on Buddha’s Birthday, and last year it drew a massive crowd, leading to some tense moments. Let’s take a look at what’s in store for this year’s Haman Fireworks Festival.

The Haman Fireworks Festival is a unique folk event native to Haman featuring a fireworks display where pine charcoal powder, hung between lanterns, is set on fire and released over water like flower pollen. The spectacle scenery of flames over the pond lasts for about two hours, creating a beautiful landscape.

The Haman Fireworks Festival was initiated by Jeong Gu, a county magistrate during the reign of King Seonjo of Joseon, to pray for the well-being of the people and a bountiful year. The festival was halted during the Japanese colonial period due to a policy of cultural genocide but was revived in 1985 and has been held annually ever since. The establishment of the Haman Fireworks Festival Preservation Society in the 2000s has helped keep this major event going.

Last year, 60,000 people from all over the country visited Haman to see the fireworks festival which is the number almost equal to the total population of Haman County, which is around 61,000. The influx of so many visitors led to controlled entry and gridlocked roads. Even internet and cell phone services were disrupted.

Haman County planned to start the pre-show at 4 PM and the main event at 7 PM. They intended to continue the fireworks display until 9:20 PM, but due to the crowd surge, they had to cancel the pre-show over safety concerns even though the main event began at 5:50 PM.

The area around the pond where the event was held was packed with spectators. Haman County sent out a safety advisory message around 5 PM warning that a large number of vehicles were heading to the event site and causing road congestion, raising safety concerns. Eighteen minutes later, they sent out another message that they were controlling entry to the event site due to safety concerns.

At 6:35 PM, they sent a message asking tourists at the event site to leave early. At 7:31 PM, they sent another message asking people to go home.

Many who visited to see the Haman Fireworks Festival had to turn back without getting to see the event properly. Following the event, the open forum on the Haman County website was flooded with complaints.

Visitors complained, “I wasted my time and money on this holiday,” and “I had to walk to the event site around 4:30 PM because the shuttle bus didn’t come. I heard I couldn’t get into the event site, so I gave up and left Haman. It took over an hour just to get out, and I got home after midnight. I lost my whole day,” “I couldn’t see the event because they were controlling the event site, and the traffic was so bad it was like hell.”

Traffic was backed up on the highways and national roads leading into and out of Haman, and distances that should have taken 30 minutes took 2-3 hours. Even the journey home for those who didn’t get to see the event was a nightmare due to severe congestion.

Eventually, Haman County issued an apology for the inconvenience caused to visitors. They explained that they had prepared traffic measures expecting around 22,000 visitors and had deployed over 1,000 safety personnel. However, they were unable to control the situation when a large number of vehicles arrived.

The Haman Fireworks Festival has risen to prominence as a leading domestic festival, earning nicknames like “K-Fireworks” and “Joseon-style Fireworks.” However, due to poor management, it has started being called the worst festival.

The 2024 Haman Fireworks Festival will take place on May 14th and 15th. Haman County has announced that they will implement a reservation system for the event. Only those who have made a reservation in advance will be allowed entry to the event site. Without a reservation, entry will be restricted. Haman residents were able to apply in person at their local town offices from the 1st to the 12th of the month.

Haman County accepted applications for a total of 6,000 people, 3,000 each for the 14th and 15th. The first round of reservations took place on March 13th, and all 6,000 spots were filled in just 37 minutes. Many people were waiting even before the reservation started, and a waiting number was generated from 10 AM. The second round of reservations, held on the 10th, was sold out in just one minute.

Haman County has announced that they will limit the number of visitors to 7,000 per day for safety reasons and plan to ensure that everyone can view the event within the allotted time. As the event is being conducted through a reservation system, they have also warned against illegal transactions.

If illegal transactions are detected, they can be reported via email. If a reservation is deemed to be a fraudulent booking or an illegal transaction, a clarification process will be initiated. If the reservation is not clarified, it will be canceled.