Street vendors in Myeongdong to close on Christmas Eve for safety measure

▲ This undated image shows a street vendor on a street in Myeongdong, a major shopping district in downtown Seoul. (Yonhap)

Christmas Eve-vendor closure

Street vendors in Myeongdong to close on Christmas Eve for safety measure

By Kim Han-joo

SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Yonhap) -- Street vendors in Myeongdong, a major shopping district in downtown Seoul, will be closed on Christmas Eve as part of crowd management measures, officials said Wednesday.

A total of 362 vendors have agreed with the office of Junggu Ward covering the district to keep their businesses closed on the holiday that falls on Saturday, they said.

The measure comes as the country is still reeling from the trauma of a crowd crush that killed 158 people during Halloween celebrations in Itaewon district on Oct. 29.

The office said 40 officials will be deployed to the area every day from Christmas day to New Year's Eve for crowd monitoring and management.

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