ARMY turns Busan into a BTS birthday bash, but poor concert logistics puts a damper on some of the festivities
Related Article
BTS turns Busan concert into heartfelt homecoming as fans rise, sing and relive group's return together
In Busan, the BTS show started long before the stadium lights went on
'Welcome to ma city': BTS puts Busan on K-pop's tour map episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 14, 2026 · 5 MIN

ARMY turns Busan into a BTS birthday bash, but poor concert logistics puts a damper on some of the festivities Related Article BTS turns Busan concert into heartfelt homecoming as fans rise, sing and relive group's return together In Busan, the BTS show started long before the stadium lights went on 'Welcome to ma city': BTS puts Busan on K-pop's tour map

from Korea JoongAng Daily - Daily News from Korea

Fans frustrated by long lines, crowd management issues and lack of transportation as first show was delayed by 75 minutes. BUSAN — "Happy Birthday" rang out along the walkway leading to Busan Asiad Main Stadium on Saturday, as BTS fans gathered to celebrate the world's biggest boy band on the 13th anniversary of its debut. The mood was festive, purple and unmistakably devoted. But as tens of thousands of BTS fans, known as ARMY, waited for the Busan stop of the group's "Arirang" world tour, many had more than birthday wishes to share — especially after the first night of the two-day concert run on Friday was delayed by 75 minutes. Long lines, confusing crowd routes and logistical delays left some fans wondering whether the city and organizers were fully prepared for the scale of the celebration they were hosting. "Yesterday was chaotic — really, really bad," said Luisa Ariella Dani, an Indonesian fan who secured tickets for both Busan concerts and had also attended the Goyang kickoff of the "Arirang" tour in April. She described Friday's show as "the most chaotic concert I've ever been to." "It's really disorganized here," she continued. "You don't know where to queue, and the line is moving very slowly. Even if you already paid for the items on Weverse, when you went to pick them up, they were sold out or pickup time was over. Someone next to me couldn't get inside for sound check because she was in line for the light stick for three hours." Getting into the venue was also confusing, she added, made more difficult by the heat. Concertgoers were not allowed to use some stairs and had to "go around and around" to reach their seats, she said. Similar complaints over logistics flooded social media after Friday's show and again after Saturday's finale, which was also delayed by 20 minutes. The most common issues included confusion over entry procedures, hectic queues leading to the venue, limited entrance points and transportation shortages. Busan Asiad Main Stadium is about a 30-minute drive from Busan Station, and taxi availability fell short of demand around the concert. HYBE issued an apology on Saturday over the delayed entry. "We deeply apologize to all attendees in the audience who came to watch the 'Arirang' world tour for the inconvenience caused by the delay in the start of [Friday's] performance," the agency said in a statement on Weverse, its fan community platform. HYBE said the delay was caused by a combination of factors, including confusion in on-site guidance, bottlenecks in the distribution of fan gifts and delays in merchandise pickup. Mira, a Malaysian fan who has supported BTS for the past eight years, had visited Korea several times before, including for the Goyang concert. Her friend Mas, who is also from Malaysia and who has visited Korea eight times, said her trip from Seoul to Busan had been smooth. "It's crowded, but not as busy as Seoul," Mira said. Mas described her Busan experience overall as "good," though both said they had experienced Friday's chaos firsthand. "Many people couldn't go inside," Mira said. Mas added that the internet connection around the venue had also been unstable. Still, the fans were determined to celebrate the anniversary. "I love their music and lyrics," said Dani, whose birthday coincided with BTS's debut anniversary on Saturday, explaining why she has remained a devoted ARMY member for six years. "It really helped me go through a lot of difficult times too." Mas cited BTS's "music and the members' individual personalities" as the reason she has stayed a fan, while Mira added with a smile — "They love ARMY very much." Over the two-day concert run, a total of 110,000 attendees gathered at the stadium. As crowds flocked to the city, more than 3,000 personnel from HYBE, the Busan City Government, police and firefighting units were deployed for safety and crowd control across Busan, including some 300 police officers stationed around the stadium on the days of the performa...

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jun 14, 2026

Embed this episode

Ready to play

ARMY turns Busan into a BTS birthday bash, but poor concert logistics puts a damper on some of the festivities Related Article BTS turns Busan concert into heartfelt homecoming as fans rise, sing and relive group's return together In Busan, the BTS show started long before the stadium lights went on 'Welcome to ma city': BTS puts Busan on K-pop's tour map

0:00 5:19

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

No similar podcasts found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of Korea JoongAng Daily - Daily News from Korea?

This episode is 5 minutes long.

When was this Korea JoongAng Daily - Daily News from Korea episode published?

This episode was published on June 14, 2026.

Can I download this Korea JoongAng Daily - Daily News from Korea episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!