The annual celebrations in the popular Itaewon nightlife district in Seoul also lacked a central organizing entity, which meant that government authorities were not required to establish or enforce security protocols. District authorities for Yongsan, where Itaewon is located, discussed measures to prevent illegal drug use and the spread of COVID-19 over the Halloween weekend, according to a district press release. However, there was no mention of crowd control. On Saturday, when the tragedy occurred, an estimated 100,000 people were in Itaewon, an area known for its hills and narrow streets. According to Seoul Metro, about 81,573 people got off at Itaewon subway station on the day, up from about 23,800 a week earlier and about 35,950 on Friday. But there were only 137 police officers in Itaewon at the time, the city of Seoul said. By contrast, as many as 4,000 police were deployed at rallies by labor unions and supporters of President Yoon Suk-yeol that drew tens of thousands in central Seoul’s Gwanghwamun on the same Saturday, a police official said. “Police are now working on a thorough analysis of the cause of the incident,” Interior and Security Minister Lee Sang-min said on Monday. “It is not appropriate to jump to conclusions before the exact cause is determined – if it was caused by a lack of police or if there is something that we need to fundamentally change about rallies and gatherings.” [1/5] Shoes belonging to victims are placed in a gymnasium where recovered belongings of victims of a crowd crash that occurred during Halloween celebrations are kept in Seoul, South Korea, November 1, 2022. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji President Yun called for a thorough investigation into the cause of the crash as well as improvements in security measures that can be used for large gatherings where there is no designated organizer. While South Korea has a security manual for festivals expected to attract more than 1,000 people, the manual assumes an organizing body responsible for security planning and requests state funding. Just two weeks earlier, the Itaewon Global Village Festival organized by a tourism association and sponsored by the city of Seoul and Yongsan District had people wearing yellow vests directing the flow of traffic and the main road was closed to car traffic. But on Saturday, there were only thousands of stores open for business, normal traffic rules and tens of thousands of young people eager to celebrate Halloween without major COVID restrictions for the first time since the pandemic. “Just because it’s not called a ‘festival’ doesn’t mean there should be a difference in disaster management,” said Paek Seung-joo, a professor of fire protection and disaster prevention at the Open Cyber University of Korea. “Because there was no central authority, each branch of government did what it normally does – the fire department prepared for the fires and the police prepared for the crime. There needs to be a system where a local government takes the reins and works with other authorities to prepare for the worst,” he said. Moon Hyeon-cheol, a professor at the Graduate School of Disaster Safety Management at Soongsil University, said this type of crash had the potential to happen in any populous city. “We must face this tragedy and learn to prepare for the risk of disaster,” he said. Report by Joyce Lee. Additional reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Soo-hyang Choi. Edited by Edwina Gibbs Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
