BigHit Music calls off Jin’s ‘The Astronaut’ listening party amid Halloween crowd surge in Seoul

PTI, Oct 30, 2022, 1:09 PM IST

Image credit: PTI

BTS’ management agency BigHit on Sunday said all schedules related to member Jin’s latest song ”The Astronaut” have been postponed.

The announcement comes after the deaths of at least 151 people, mostly in their teens and 20s, who got trapped and crushed on Saturday night after a huge Halloween party crowd surged into a narrow alley in a nightlife district in Seoul.

An estimated 100,000 people had gathered in Itaewon for the biggest outdoor Halloween festivities in South Korea since the pandemic began and strict rules on gatherings were enforced.

BigHit Music, who didn’t mention the stampede in central Seoul, said the company will inform fans and followers about the updated schedule in future.

”We would like to inform you that the schedules scheduled for October 30-31 have been postponed. 10/30 12PM (KST) Stationhead Listening Party 10/31 0AM (KST) ‘The Astronaut’ Lyric Video.

”We will inform you of the schedule again through a notice at a later date. We ask for your understanding, fans. Thank you,” the agency said in the tweet.

According to Korean entertainment portal Soompi, broadcaster SBS also cancelled the premiere on its weekly music programme ”Inkigayo”.

”Today, October 30, ‘Inkigayo’ will not be airing (Episode 1160). Accordingly, we are informing you that today’s pre-recording and fan admission to the live broadcast has also been cancelled,” the channel said in a statement.

SM Entertainment — the agency behind popular K-pop groups like Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, Red Velvet and EXO — called off its annual Halloween party in the wake of last night’s Itaewon tragedy.

The company was originally planning to stream the red carpet for its ”SMTOWN WONDERLAND” bash online for the first time this year.

”We are informing you that the live broadcast of the ‘SMTOWN WONDERLAND 2022’ red carpet, which was scheduled to be streamed live for free today for KWANGYA CLUB ACE members on the global platform Beyond LIVE for approximately one hour starting from 6:15 p.m., has been cancelled.

”Since the ‘SMTOWN WONDERLAND 2022’ event itself has been cancelled, there will be no livestream of the red carpet either,” SM Entertainment said.