"Came to See the Idols' Concert, Then Disaster Struck": Safety Questions After Sogong-dong Capsule Hotel Fire

[Financial News] A fire at a capsule hotel in Sogong-dong in Jung District, Seoul left ten people injured, including foreign tourists. Among the three injured foreign nationals, a Japanese woman in her 50s is reportedly still unconscious. With foreign visitor numbers expected to surge ahead of the BTS (Bangtan Boys) comeback concert at Gwanghwamun Square on the 21st, critics say the government must step up safety management at lodging facilities.
According to the National Fire Agency (NFA) on the 16th, there have been 1,880 fires at lodging facilities over the past five years. By year, there were 375 cases in 2021, 382 in 2022, 377 in 2023, 351 in 2024, and 395 in 2025. The number of deaths was seven in 2021, two in 2022, three in 2023, sixteen in 2024, and nineteen in 2025.
The capsule hotel where the fire occurred is about a ten-minute walk from Myeong-dong, a popular tourist area, and offers relatively cheap rooms at 30,000 to 60,000 won per night. It was mainly used by foreign tourists looking to save on accommodation costs. In a capsule hotel, instead of separate rooms, single beds are stacked in a two-tier, honeycomb-like layout. Within a two-kilometer radius of this site, there are reportedly five more lodging facilities operating in a capsule-hotel format. Most rooms for the 20th, the day before the BTS concert, are already fully booked.
Some guests say they still have not been able to retrieve their belongings and continue to circle around the fire site. Rei, a 24-year-old Japanese tourist who came to Korea to attend the final full-group concert of ZEROBASEONE (ZB1), checked in at 5 p.m. and went out, avoiding injury when the fire broke out. However, she said she has had to pay out of pocket to stay at another hotel, doubling her accommodation costs. "I came back today before my flight to see if I could possibly get my luggage, but I was told I still can’t receive it," she said, adding, "Even regarding a refund for the room, I have to communicate with the person in charge by email."
The damage is believed to have been exacerbated by the absence of sprinklers in the building where the fire occurred. In 2018, sprinklers were made mandatory on every floor of buildings six stories or higher, but this building was constructed before the regulation took effect and is therefore not subject to the requirement.
There is also concern that the cramped, densely packed layout may have made movement difficult and structurally hindered evacuation. Thomas, a 28-year-old tourist from Australia who stayed at a capsule hotel about one kilometer from the fire site, said, "There was a locker room for luggage, but the lockers were so small they could only fit a backpack, so suitcases were scattered all over the lobby," adding, "We were not given any instructions on what to do in case of a fire or where the exits were."
Experts advise that safety measures at capsule hotels must be strengthened. Yeom Gun-woong, a professor in the Department of Police and Fire Administration at Yuwon University, explained, "If it is practically difficult to install sprinklers, facilities should install automatic fire-extinguishing devices that can serve a similar function, and replace mattresses and blankets in capsule hotels with flame-retardant materials to slow the spread of fire in its early stages."
There are also calls to ensure that environments allow for proper evacuation in the event of a fire. Professor Yeom advised, "Authorities must thoroughly inspect and crack down on older lodging facilities to ensure emergency escape routes are properly secured and that there are no illegal structural alterations."

jyseo@fnnews.com Seo Ji-yoon Reporter