Forty-five events canceled, 30 events postponed and 15 festivals downsized

The province advises cities and counties to refrain from holding events until the Sewol tragedy is resolved

◇ With measures to address the ferry accident at Jindo ongoing, Gyeonggi Province canceled or postponed 90 events and advised cities and counties to refrain from holding events until the tragedy is resolved. ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News Yoo Je-hoon

With measures to address the ferry accident at Jindo ongoing, Gyeonggi Province and local governments decided to cancel or postpone 90 events.

Gyeonggi Province announced on April 18 that it will cancel 6, postpone 10 and downsize 3 of 19 events including various cultural events, athletic meets and opening ceremonies that had been scheduled for April and early May.

Moreover, the 31 cities and counties of the province also decided to cancel 39, postpone 20 and downsize 12 out of a total of 71 events. Accordingly, 45 out of 90 events were canceled, 30 postponed and 15 downsized.

The province also canceled Gyeonggi Province’s Spring Athletic Meet, which would have been held from March 21 to April 3, along with the Fires Station Harmony Athletic Meet to strengthen solidarity among fire stations that had been scheduled for April 26, as well as the 37th Nationwide Female Pharmacists Competition. The Employees Athletic Meet, Family Field Trip and the Gyeonggi Province Workshop for Architectural Workers originally scheduled for May are indefinitely postponed, and the opening ceremony of the Gyeonggi Culture Creation Hub will be downsized with the cancellation of the pre-ceremony event.

Suwon City also canceled the 4th Suin Line Small Concert and the 9th Spring Compassion Festival, which had been scheduled for April 19, and postponed the Merry Athletic Meet originally scheduled for April 23. Yongin City canceled the Yongin Ever Cherry Blossom Festival that had been scheduled for April 18 to 20, while Bucheon City canceled the Chundeoksan Mountain Peach Blossom Festival originally scheduled for April 20.

Endeavoring to address the ferry accident, Ansan City canceled all 10 of its events scheduled for April and May, and thus will not hold any events including Children’s Day events, the Tulip Festival or the Ansan Street Arts Festivals this year.

In addition, Namyangju City’s Bukhangang Culture Trip, Pyeongtaek City’s Citizen Walking Contest, Siheung’s Bowling Competition and Yangju City’s Maenggol Village Festival were all canceled.

“We advised provincial offices as well as all cities and counties to refrain from holding events until the accident is addressed,” said Gyeonggi General Affairs Director Lee Dae-jik. “We will do our best to provide full support in addressing the accident, locating the missing, and treating the injured.”

Gyeonggi Province established the Gyeonggi Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on the morning of April 16 immediately after the accident occurred, and has since provided support by dispatching an emergency medical team to Jindo, sending a psychological support team to the Korea University Ansan Hospital, and providing food and mattresses to Danwon High School where families of the missing are waiting.

ⓒGyeonggi G-News | Chun Kyeong-nam ckn0403@kg21.net