To talk about Itaewon, you have to set two numbers side by side first.
One — In Q3 2025, Itaewon’s small-shop vacancy rate was 3.9%. That’s below the downtown Seoul average of 5.1% — and down from 13.9% in Q3 2024 in a single year.
Two — At 9 p.m. on October 31, 2025, Itaewon’s crowd was 17,800. At the same moment, Hongdae had 110,000.
The shopping streets came back to life, and Halloween never did. If those two sentences read like a contradiction, you don’t yet know exactly what happened to Itaewon.
The short answer
- Itaewon wasn't recovered — it was reorganized. By the numbers, its vacancy rate is healthy, near the top of Seoul.
- What revived it wasn't the club strip but the Hannam-dong fashion district around Hangangjin Station. Not a replacement — a pull.
- Itaewon was already crumbling before the tragedy. The 2018 US base relocation → 26.5% vacancy in 2019 → COVID → the tragedy: four blows in a row.
- Halloween demand looks permanently relocated to Hongdae. As of 2025, Hongdae draws more than six times Itaewon's crowd.
- In December 2025, the special tourist zone was expanded to Hangangjin Station. The Leeum Museum and Blue Square were folded in.
- Itaewon's current strengths aren't clubs — they're the World Food Culture Street, the Islamic street, and the Leeum.
First, get the order straight — the tragedy wasn't the beginning
This is the point people get wrong most often in the whole Itaewon story.
📉 Itaewon vacancy before the tragedy
| Period | Vacancy rate | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | About 20% | June 2018: US Forces Korea moves its Yongsan base to Pyeongtaek |
| Q1 2019 | 24.3% | |
| Q2 2019 | 26.5% | The highest-tier vacancy rate among Korea’s major commercial districts |
At the time, the Korea Appraisal Board’s analysis was blunt — “The base relocation drained away the resident consumer base, and that was the biggest factor.”
A big part of what made Itaewon Itaewon was the Yongsan US base. When it moved to Pyeongtaek, the consumers who filled the alleys every evening vanished. Gentrification moved into the vacuum, COVID hit in 2020, and the tragedy followed in 2022.
Four years, by the numbers
The sales recovery curve — public data stops after 2023
The Seoul Metropolitan Government measured sales against the week right before the tragedy (the fourth week of October 2022), set at 100.
📊 Itaewon 1-dong sales & foot traffic recovery (week before the tragedy = 100)
| Period | Sales recovery | Foot traffic recovery |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 2022 | About 30% | — |
| Feb 2023 | 52% | 71.9% |
| Mar 2023 | 98.2% | 72.6% |
| Apr 2023 | 93.4% | 74.9% |
| May 2023 | 76.3% | 75.6% |
Don't take the 90% figures from March and April at face value
In January and March 2023, Yongsan-gu issued ₩32.6 billion worth of local vouchers at a 20% face-value discount, and ₩18 billion of them had been spent by May. The March–April numbers were inflated by that effect — May's 76.3% is closer to the real picture.
And after June 2023, the city stopped publishing data on the same basis. From there on, vacancy rates are all we have to go by.
Vacancy rate — this is where the plot twists
Itaewon’s 3.9% small-shop vacancy in Q3 2025 is below the downtown Seoul average. The 13.6% for mid-to-large shops is also healthier than Cheongdam (23.6%) or Dongdaemun (14.3%). Compared with 26.5% in 2019, this is a completely different neighborhood.
Visitor numbers rose, too. Yongsan-gu’s tally shows domestic visitors to the Itaewon special tourist zone climbing from 1.25 million in 2024 to 1.3 million in January–November 2025, and foreign visitors from 240,000 to over 250,000. Chinese, Japanese, Hong Kong, and Taiwanese visitors make up more than half of the foreign total.
So what actually revived Itaewon?
Not the clubs. The fashion district around Hangangjin Station.
Brands piled into the line running from Hangangjin Station (Line 6) toward Itaewon Station — the stretch locals call the “Comme des Garçons street.”
Restaurant sales along the Comme des Garçons street grew an average of 15% a year. In a Q4 2025 real-estate consultancy assessment, Seongsu, Myeongdong, and Hannam were named as the Seoul commercial districts with the lowest vacancy.
"Did Hannam-dong replace Itaewon?" — It didn't replace it; it pulled it along
Hannam-dong didn't push Itaewon out. The foot traffic that flooded into Hannam-dong spilled downhill toward Itaewon Station, and that's what revived Itaewon's main stretch. The accurate read is that the two neighborhoods fused into a single axis.
City administration has acknowledged as much. On December 26, 2025, a Seoul Metropolitan Government notice expanded the Itaewon Special Tourist Zone to the Hangangjin Station area — 390,000 ㎡ in total, about 1.4 km from the Itaewon-ro entrance to the Hannam-dong Community Center. The Leeum Museum and Blue Square are now inside the zone.
In other words, Itaewon in 2026 is no longer "the Itaewon Station club strip" — it's the "Itaewon Station–Hangangjin Station axis."
Neighborhood-by-neighborhood status — each one is on its own clock
Itaewon’s sub-districts move on different timetables. Lumping them into one sentence gets all of them wrong.
🏘️ Sub-district status
| Neighborhood | Status | What it’s like now |
|---|---|---|
| Hannam-dong (Hangangjin Station) | ✅ Clearly on the rise | Among Seoul’s lowest vacancy. Fashion, museums, upscale F&B. Top-tier rent growth |
| World Food Culture Street | ✅ Busy and thriving | 30+ nationalities of restaurants. Terraces fill every night |
| Usadan-ro Islamic Street | ⚠️ Numbers unverified | About 40 halal shops clustered around Seoul Central Masjid |
| Gyeongnidan-gil | ⚠️ Partial recovery, changing character | Vacancy persists, foot traffic below its heyday. Reorganizing around indie bookstores, wine bars, and ateliers instead of big brands |
| Haebangchon | ⚠️ More people, less revenue | 190 shops and rising foot traffic — yet average monthly revenue per shop fell year over year to ₩4.96 million |
| Antique Furniture Street | 🔴 Can’t confirm | Reported to be declining since 2020 amid the Hannam New Town redevelopment. Current state unverified |
D Museum is not in Hannam-dong
English guides still list D Museum as a Hannam-dong attraction, but it moved to Seongdong-gu's Seongsu-dong (Seoul Forest) in 2021. The museum in Hannam-dong is the Leeum.
Haebangchon’s numbers are especially interesting. More people came, yet revenue per shop fell. Sales cluster on Saturdays at 17.2% — a sign that it’s a destination district people visit only at certain weekend hours. It’s far from the subway and uphill, so nobody just happens to pass through.
Gyeongnidan-gil collapsed around 2017 on a rent spike and hasn’t fully returned, but its character is changing. Founders are shifting from their 20s–30s to their 40s–50s, and indie bookstores and ateliers are moving in where big brands once were. It’s not a full recovery — it’s a repositioning as a “quiet alley.”
What never came back — Halloween
Set the numbers side by side and the conclusion is hard to miss. Halloween demand didn’t disappear — it moved to Hongdae. And that move shows no sign of reversing.
🎃 Halloween handling, year by year
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2023 (1st anniversary) | Nationwide restraint. The big 3 hypermarkets, 4 convenience store chains, and theme parks dropped Halloween marketing and switched themes to Thanksgiving and Oktoberfest |
| 2024 (2nd anniversary) | Itaewon’s festival mood vanished. Line 6’s Itaewon Station skipped stops in both directions from 11 p.m., with the station briefly closed. 3,012 police officers deployed |
| 2025 (3rd anniversary) | Itaewon Station skipped stops from 11 p.m. Police began restricting entry to the tragedy alley from around 10:20 p.m. Few wore costumes — and most who did were foreign tourists |
A commercial-district analyst’s November 2025 comment sums up the mood in today’s Itaewon perfectly — “Spending has largely recovered, but people are still too wary to openly celebrate Halloween.”
If you're planning to visit Itaewon in late October
"Crowded" is the wrong word — "controlled and tense" is accurate. The subway may skip the station, and certain alleys may be blocked off. If you want Halloween atmosphere, go to Hongdae or Seongsu. If you're going for Itaewon's food and neighborhood, just avoid that one week.
The tragedy alley — what travelers should know
Get the facts right first. On the night of October 29, 2022, a crowd crush in a narrow downhill alley beside the Hamilton Hotel in Yongsan-gu’s Itaewon-dong killed 159 people. The court ruled it was not a natural disaster but a man-made one — preventable had authorities fulfilled their duty of care.
The 10·29 Memorial & Safety Path
Built in October 2023, just before the first anniversary. The bereaved families’ council and a citizens’ committee spent about a year preparing it, with cooperation from Yongsan-gu.
What's there
- A marker stone about 40 m from Itaewon Station Exit 1
- An inscription at the alley entrance on the ground: "We still have names we must remember"
- The first information board explains what happened in 14 languages — foreign visitors can read it directly
- Boards 2 and 3 form a "window gallery," rotating work by photographers and graphic designers every two months
- Post-it notes left by citizens remain in place
How to behave
- You can walk through in ordinary times. It's not a closed-off space — shops along both sides of the alley are open for business.
- During extreme crowding such as Halloween, police restrict entry.
- The 14-language information board is there for a reason — reading and understanding it honors the space's purpose.
- But remember, this is a memorial space cared for by bereaved families and citizens. It's not a backdrop for tourist photos.
The memorial space “House of Stars” (Byeoldeul-ui Jip) is not in Itaewon — it’s at 130 Sajik-ro, Jongno-gu, near Gyeongbokgung Station on Line 3. It relocated there in November 2024. Check opening hours before visiting.
It’s not over yet
Not strictly travel info, but worth knowing to understand this neighborhood.
- Criminal trials are ongoing. At the first trial (September 2024), the former Yongsan Police Station chief was sentenced to three years in prison and the Yongsan-gu mayor was acquitted; prosecutors appealed immediately. The appeal began in May 2025 but is suspended pending the special investigation committee’s review and vote on its findings.
- The special investigation committee’s mandate is nearly up — September 16, 2026. It has been turbulent, including the chair’s resignation in May 2026, and a bill to extend its term is pending in the National Assembly. In July 2026, it officially confirmed that, right after the tragedy, the government had spread the terms “accident” and “deaths” in place of “crowd crush” and “victims.”
Four years after the tragedy, the official fact-finding is still not concluded. This is part of why Itaewon remains cautious around Halloween.
Crowd safety — tools you can actually use
Check crowd levels before you go
- Seoul Real-time City Data (data.seoul.go.kr/SeoulRtd) — live congestion for 120 Seoul locations, including tourist zones, subway stations, and parks
- The "Seoul Real-time Congestion" app — a five-level scale (relaxed / normal / slightly crowded / crowded / very crowded), with estimated population and nearby road conditions
- During Halloween, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety designates key management areas nationwide, and Seoul sets priority management zones in Hongdae, Itaewon, and elsewhere. Crowd-sensing CCTV feeds share real-time information
- Year-end (Christmas through early January) also brings special safety management to nine spots: Myeongdong, Itaewon, Seongsu, Hongdae, Gangnam Station, and more
What's actually worth seeing in Itaewon right now
Start with the right exit
🚇 Exits by destination
| Station & exit | Destination |
|---|---|
| Line 6 Itaewon Station, Exit 1 | Hamilton Hotel, World Food Culture Street, the 10·29 Memorial & Safety Path (40 m), major lounge bars |
| Line 6 Itaewon Station, Exit 3 | Islamic Street (Usadan-ro 10-gil), Seoul Central Masjid — keep the fire station on your left, turn right, then uphill about 300 m |
| Line 6 Hangangjin Station | Leeum Museum, Blue Square, the fashion shops of the Comme des Garçons street |
| Line 6 Noksapyeong Station | Gyeongnidan-gil entrance, toward Haebangchon. About 580 m to Itaewon Station |
Things to see
It helps to know that Itaewon’s day is split by time of day — Hannam-dong’s cafés and fashion streets by day, the World Food Culture Street by night.
Where to stay — Itaewon or Hannam
🏨 Comparison
| Itaewon | Hannam-dong | |
|---|---|---|
| Character | Nighttime F&B, bars, clubs, cosmopolitan variety | Fashion, museums, upscale F&B, daytime-focused |
| Noise | Significant on weekend nights | Relatively quiet |
| Price range | Broad, from mid-low | High |
| Watch out for | — | Some stretches border the Hannam District 3 demolition/construction site |
| Nearest station | Itaewon Station | Hangangjin Station |
Hannam-dong is mid-construction in 2026
Hannam District 3 (THE H Hannam) is Seoul's largest redevelopment, at 5,988 units. After relocating some 8,800 households, demolition began in February 2025; as of March 2026, 79.5% of structures had been dismantled, with move-in planned for 2029. Expect noise, dust, and partial road restrictions in some stretches.
Right next to Itaewon, the UNC (United Nations Command) site (around 22-34 Itaewon-dong, 44,935 ㎡) is being developed into a ₩11 trillion project with 420 apartments, 723 officetel units, a hotel, and retail and cultural facilities. Completion dates vary across reports.
So what kind of neighborhood has Itaewon become?
Itaewon as a cheap, exotic bar district is structurally shrinking. There’s no bringing back the spot the US military left behind, and once the UNC site development finishes, the upscaling will ratchet up another notch.
What Itaewon has instead is this: one of the world’s densest 30-nation food alleys, Korea’s first mosque and the halal shops around it, Seoul’s strongest fashion flagship line, and the Leeum Museum.
Go expecting a club strip and you’ll be disappointed. Go expecting a walkable neighborhood and you’ll get the densest half-day in Seoul.
Sources
- Korea Real Estate Board, Commercial Real Estate Rental Trend Survey (Itaewon) — as cited by Hankyung (2025-11-02)
- Today Newspaper (2019-10-31) — pre-tragedy vacancy rates and the US base relocation
- Kyunghyang Shinmun (2023-06-11) — Seoul's sales and foot traffic recovery rates, local voucher effect
- Hankook Ilbo (2025-11-01) — 2025 Halloween crowd counts in Itaewon and Hongdae
- Hankyung (2025-10-31) — 2025 Halloween on the ground, World Food Culture Street
- Sijeong Ilbo (2026-01-08) — notice expanding the Itaewon Special Tourist Zone, area and scope
- Edaily Marketin (2025-05) · Korea Textile News (2025-12-23) — Hannam-dong commercial district, brand openings, vacancy comparison
- Sisa Prime — Gyeongnidan-gil and Haebangchon commercial analysis
- Kyunghyang Shinmun (2023-10-26) · Maeil Shinmun — the 10·29 Memorial & Safety Path
- Seoul Shinmun · Kyunghyang Shinmun (2025-08-28) — first-trial verdict, appeal suspension
- Kyunghyang Shinmun (2026-08-10) · Newsis (2026-07-28) — special investigation committee status
- Seoul Real-time City Data · Seoul Metropolitan Government safety management press releases
- Kumyung Economic News · Newsis (2025-03-06) — Hannam District 3 and UNC site development