I'll be honest, as someone who has professionally helped organise large-scale events, the issues being reported from Day 1 of Arirang in Busan (12 June 2026) don't point to failures by BTS or BigHit/HYBE. Instead, they appear to be failures in venue operations, crowd management, and local event execution.
Based on what we've seen from attendees, the primary failures appear to sit with:
• Government representatives
• Venue management
• Local event organisers
• Security contractors
Reports from the timeline include:
• Significant delays getting attendees into the venue
• Poor crowd management and queue control
• Gift distribution that appears to have been poorly planned
• Technical issues with NOL FacePass verification
• Reports of inadequate medical staffing, equipment, and emergency response resources
• Poorly managed entry points
• Reports of unprofessional conduct from some security staff towards attendees
• Public transport operating on normal schedules despite the event running significantly late
• Traffic police directing attendees away from the venue while tens of thousands of people were simultaneously attempting to access buses, trains, taxis, and rideshares
• Insufficient transport and crowd-dispersal planning for the volume of people leaving the stadium at once
Having attended Yet To Come in 2022, I still remember how difficult it was to leave the venue. At one point, the crowd density became high enough that I was genuinely concerned about crowd crush. That's why transport planning and crowd dispersal aren't minor operational details - they're critical safety measures.
BigHit/HYBE are renting the venue and producing the show, but venue operations, crowd control, security staffing, emergency services, transport coordination, and infrastructure are often managed locally through the venue, local organisers, contractors, and government agencies.
What stands out to me is that if this level of operational dysfunction were primarily a BigHit/HYBE issue, we'd expect to see similar problems at BTS concerts everywhere. Instead, we continue to see recurring concerns associated with this specific venue and its management.
Unfortunately, BigHit/HYBE are the most visible organisation attached to the event, so they're often the first to receive criticism when something goes wrong. However, based on the issues being reported, many of these failures fall within the responsibilities of venue management, local event organisers, security providers, transport coordinators, and government agencies.
As someone who has worked on large-scale events, I think it's important that accountability is directed at the parties actually responsible for each aspect of event delivery. Not every operational failure at a BTS concert is automatically a BigHit/HYBE failure, particularly when the same concerns continue to emerge around the same venue and local management structures.
[공지] 안녕하세요, 하이브입니다.
6월 12일 진행된 BTS WORLD TOUR ‘ARIRANG’ IN BUSAN 공연을 관람하러 와주신 모든 관객 여러분께 공연 시작 지연으로 큰 불편을 끼쳐드린 점 깊이 사과드립니다.
관객 여러분께 뜻깊은 시간을 마련해 드리기 위해 운영에 소홀함이 없도록 최대한 준비했으나, 현장 안내 혼선, 팬 기프트 배부 과정의 대기줄 병목, 상품 수령 지연 등이 복합적으로 작용하면서 본공연 시작이 지연되었습니다.
공연 관람까지 오랜 시간 기다려주신 관객 여러분께 큰 실망과 불편을 드린 점, 다시 한 번 진심으로 사과의 말씀을 드립니다.
익일 진행되는 공연에서는 동일한 혼잡 상황이 발생하지 않도록, 입장과 기프트 배부를 비롯한 현장 운영 전반을 철저히 점검하고 보완하겠습니다.
본 공연 관련한 문의 사항은 NOL티켓 고객센터로 연락 부탁드립니다(1544-1555).
감사합니다.