Truth About Excessive Security Of Byun Woo-seok At Airport, “Airport Is Originally A Battlefield”

On June 6th, 2024, Byun Woo-seok arrived at Incheon International Airport to leave for his fanmeeting in Taiwan. Countless fans flocked to the airport and fought to pass the departure gate. Amid the chaotic situation, a fan fell down and it could have led to a crushing accident.

On June 26th, 2024, the actor came to the airport again to head to Jakarta, Indonesia. Once again, the place was full of his fans. This time, the security team had two people stand in front of the automatic door and block the fans with their arms. However, they still failed as fans flocked to the manual door next to the automatic door.

On July 12th, 2024, Byun Woo-seok arrived at Incheon International Airport again for Hong Kong schedule. With the experiences from the last two failures, the security team asked the airport police to cooperate and they restricted the opening and closing of the automatic door for 48 seconds to control access. The plan worked and there were no safety accidents thanks to the 48-second gap between the entrance of Byun Woo-seok and fans. 

However, it was considered a failure again as the controversy over excessive security broke out.

President of Incheon International Airport Corporation Lee Hak-jae said on July 17th, “This is the first time such a controversy emerged. Security staff have never been criticized for their excessive security before”. 

Before Byun Woo-seok’s airport issue, many accidents already occurred due to the chaos during stars’ departures and arrivals. In some cases, the automatic door at the airport was even broken. Stars who have suffered similar issues recently were aespa, Baekhyun, Enhypen, IU, ZB1, RIIZE, BTS’s Jungkook & V, etc. Especially, V even said, “I’m worried every time I depart”.

Dispatch released a detailed explanation regarding the issue that happened during Byun Woo-seok’s departure on July 12th. 

In particular, Byun Woo-seok was with bodyguard 1 when he got out of the car and headed to the gate. Bodyguards 2, 4, and 5 were guarding Gate 2. After the actor entered the departure hall, bodyguard 1 continued to follow him, while bodyguards 3 and 4 manually blocked the automatic door of Gate 2 for 48 seconds.

When Byun Woo-seok headed to the check-in counter, bodyguards 6, 7 and 8 also began to control lines of fans inside the departure hall. The actor later came to the business lounger with bodyguards 1 and 8. 1 is the person who pointed the flashlights toward fans while 8 checked the tickets of passengers in front of the escalator to the lounge.

Consultation with airport police?

Due to the severe situation at the airport, Byun Woo-seok increased his security team from 6 people (June 6th) to 8 people (July 12th). As they were worried about the situation at Gate 2 of the departure hall, Byun Woo-seok’s bodyguards asked the airport police for cooperation to switch off the automatic door manually. Taking a closer look at videos of the scene, you can see staff from the airport police force manually open and close the departure hall’s entrance together with Byun Woo-seok’s bodyguards. Therefore, a consultation had been agreed. 

Safety is more important than criticism

When the bodyguards respond to issues actively, they are criticized for excessive security. However, if they don’t respond, they will still face criticism due to their ignorance. In fact, the bodyguards think getting criticized is better than causing accidents.  CEO A of a security company said, “We manually blocked the automatic door for 48 seconds. That short amount of time actually helped them prevent crush accidents and unpleasant issues.

The security team also corrected the misinformation, saying “The door was closed for 10 minutes? That’s completely false. We blocked it for only 48 seconds”, adding “If we didn’t do anything and prevented fans from falling, criticism would still pour out. Therefore, it was the best choice at that moment”.

Flashlights

The scene of stars entering the airport is always like a battlefield. The duty of bodyguards is to protect artists and they are even allowed to use violence in the process. While blocking cameras filming close-up scenes and preventing fans from attempting physical contact, the bodyguards turned on the flashlight. A security company said, “Some follow stars to the lounge”, adding “We apologize for the inconvenience due to our overreaction, however, this should be a warning to those who tried to approach the actor with their cameras. 

Passport check is misinformation

The security company refuted the accusations about checking passengers’ personal documents without permission. Not only Byun Woo-seok’s bodyguards but airport security staff checked the passengers who were allowed to enter the lounge. The escalator to the lounge is very narrow so they did that to prevent fans from flocking to the area. The CEO emphasized, “We only asked them to show us their tickets. We never asked for the passengers’ passports. Please don’t misunderstand.”

Following various accidents at Incheon International Airport recently, President Lee Hak-jae urged discussions to come up with a solution. In addition, fans must also change and try to keep a safe distance first when visiting the airport to see celebrities.