On September 14, IU Gallery released a lengthy statement, saying, “Today, the city of Seoul released a statement regarding IU’s concert, and fans couldn’t help but feel enraged by the city’s attempt to shift blame to the ‘territorial issue.’ We are now announcing an official position that reflects fans’ opinions.”
In the statement, IU Gallery said, “Fans feel a great sense of relief that IU’s concert, scheduled for next week at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, will be held as normal. However, we cannot ignore the incompetence of the Seoul city government.”
The statement continued: “The turf problem at the World Cup stadium is entirely due to the negligence of the Seoul Facilities Corporation. The city of Seoul, which operates and supervises the Facilities Corporation, should take responsibility for the turf problem and apologize to the citizens of Seoul. Instead, the city is deceiving the public into believing that the exclusion of ground seating from sales starting next year is a result of the IU concert.”
He added, “Since two other concerts were held at the Seoul World Cup Stadium before the IU concert, the Facilities Corporation is expected to earn over 3.6 billion won in concert fees alone in 2024. Therefore, it is only right that the corporation has managed the turf with the utmost care and diligence.”
Earlier, on September 14, the city of Seoul announced that from 2025, the sale of seats for concerts and other cultural events at the Seoul World Cup Stadium would be limited. The measure is said to be a response to concerns raised about the condition of the turf after the September 5 match between the men’s national soccer team and Palestine in the qualifiers for the 2026 North and Central American World Cup.
Source: naver
