Seoul gives families a week to remove illegal memorial

A visitor shows respect to the people who died from the Itaewon tragedy on Oct. 29 2022 during Halloween weekend at a makeshift memorial set up next to Seoul City Hall on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

The Seoul city government has decided to give the bereaved families of the victims of the Itaewon tragedy a week to remove an unauthorized makeshift memorial set up in front of the city hall.

The city government on Tuesday told the families to remove the makeshift memorial by 1 p.m. of Feb. 15.

The city government has been pushing back the deadline since victims' families unexpectedly set up the memorial last Saturday during a three-day event commemorating the tragedy.

The last deadline that the city government gave was 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Seoul city government again stressed that the memorial in front of the city hall is illegal.

“The families on Jan .30 suddenly asked to set up memorials at Gwanghwamun Plaza and Sejongro Park right before the 100-day anniversary of the accident,” said a spokesperson for the Seoul city government.

“On Jan. 31, Seoul Metropolitan Government notified them that we rejected their request in accordance with regulations. However, the families on Feb. 4 unexpectedly set up an unauthorized memorial at Seoul Plaza without any communication.”

Lee Jong-chul, the head of the bereaved families, warned that he will do all he can to stop Seoul city from dismantling the memorial.

“We were able to set up a humble memorial with much difficulty,” Lee said on Sunday during an event held at the National Assembly. “We stayed up all night in fear that officials from the Seoul city government and police would dismantle it.”

He said when contacted by Seoul city, the families requested a proper memorial covered with chrysanthemums and carnations.

“If Seoul city comes to dismantle the tent memorial, we will wait for them with gasoline and follow our children,” Lee said.

Lee is the father of 24 year-old actor Lee Ji-han, who was among those that died in Itaewon.

Seoul city on Tuesday also asked the bereaved families to propose an alternative to the memorial the city government has proposed at Noksapyeong Station near Itaewon where the tragedy happened by Feb. 12.

The city government said it tried to communicate with the family members on setting up the memorial site, including three privately owned candidate spots near the site of the accident in December.

However, the proposal fell through, and the Seoul city government proposed setting up the memorial on public property, including Noksapyeong Station.

“If our proposal is not accepted, we ask the families to provide an alternative,” said the Seoul city government.

The families’ representative, Lee Jong-chul, said they are refusing Seoul city’s proposal as the memorial will be set up four stories below ground in the subway station.

“The children died in a dark and narrow alley while suffocating,” Lee said on Tuesday while appearing on a radio show. “Putting them in such a basement is like telling us to stay in the basement like our children and die until the Itaewon tragedy quiets down.”

“I don’t know if the government sees us as a cancer, but it seems they want to kill us all,” Lee added.

Some 158 people, most of them in their 20s and 30s, died in a massive crowd crush on the night of Oct. 29, the first Halloween weekend since the lifting of Covid-related social distancing regulations.

The Democratic Party, which controls the majority seats at the National Assembly, filed a motion on Monday to impeach Minister of Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min for failing to do his duty during the Itaewon tragedy.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]