Korean businesses cancel Halloween promotional events after Itaewon tragedy

A message is laid among flowers at a temporary mourning space near the scene of a tragic Halloween crowd crush in Seoul's Itaewon district, Oct. 31. Newsis

Korean businesses have canceled their Halloween promotional events as the country mourns the death of more than 150 people in a massive crowd crush in central Seoul, companies said Monday.

Lotte Department Store, a leading shopping mall, said it has called off its plans to hold Halloween parades and run pop-up stores at its Jamsil branch. Posters and promotional images for those events have been removed.

Shinsegae Department Store and Hyundai Department Store also joined the move, canceling all Halloween programs and getting rid of decorations.

Local theme parks, including Lotte World Adventure and Everland, have suspended all Halloween events from Sunday morning, while Starbucks Korea said it has wrapped up its promotions for Halloween drinks.

At least 154 people were killed in the crowd surge during Halloween celebrations in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon on Saturday night, with dozens more injured.

The Korean government has designated a weeklong national mourning period through Saturday, with flags at half-mast at government buildings and public offices across the country during the period.

Samsung Electronics, the No. 1 home appliances maker, scrapped its plan to hold a Halloween promotional party in Seoul last weekend and stopped releasing its SmartThings brand advertisements.

LG Electronics has also canceled all Halloween promotional events and removed related posters and decorations from its local stores across the country.

Kakao, the operator of No. 1 mobile messenger KakaoTalk, has wrapped up its Halloween discount events on the chat application.

This image from Naver shows its online mourning page for the Itaewon tragedy. Yonhap

Kakao and Naver, the country's largest internet portal operator, have opened special spaces for online mourning and grieving on their mobile apps.

Korea's mobile carriers led by SK Telecom have not run off promotional events for Halloween, along with foreign tech firms, including Google, Apple and Meta Platforms.

Local mobile game publishers were not exceptions. NCsoft, a leading game developer that runs popular fantasy role-playing game "Lineage," has announced its Halloween event has been cancelled.

Nexon, Netmarble and Com2uS have also scrapped all their plans to continue promotions. (Yonhap)