Hanwha Group’s Seoul International Fireworks Festival opened at 8 p.m. on September 5 around Yeouido, with the group allocating 13 billion Korean won to this year’s event. Safety management accounted for 4.5 billion won, up 17% from 3.85 billion won a year earlier, as the festival attracts more than 1 million spectators. Hanwha deployed about 5,000 safety and crowd-control personnel, the largest number to date, and expanded viewing areas toward Mapo Bridge, Wonhyo Bridge and Hangang Railway Bridge. The event, first held in 2000, has continued for more than two decades apart from unavoidable COVID-19 cancellations and reflects Hanwha Group Chairman Seung-youn Kim’s management philosophy, "together, far." Fireworks teams from South Korea, the United States and Britain are participating, while traffic restrictions and train bypasses were imposed around the venue. About 1,200 employee volunteers will clean Yeouido Hangang Park after the event, which is also being streamed on Hanwha TV.