Rally to mark Itaewon disaster draws 3,000 as bereaved families demand action

Social Affairs

Published: 29 Oct. 2023, 19:47 Updated: 31 Oct. 2023, 15:00

Rally to mark Itaewon disaster draws 3,000 as bereaved families demand action

A family member of one of the foreign victims killed in the Itaewon crowd crush a year ago visits the narrow alleyway where the tragedy occurred, along with others who lost loved ones. Some 26 foreigners from 14 countries were among the 159 disaster victims. [YONHAP]

Some 3,000 people gathered in downtown Seoul on Sunday evening to mourn the death of 159 people who were killed in the tragic Halloween crowd crush on the night of Oct. 29 last year.

“Please remember the Oct. 29 tragedy that has greatly traumatized the survivors, the residents and the merchants in the area,” Lee Jeong-min, who lost his daughter in the tragedy and leads the association of bereaved families of the Itaewon tragedy, said during his speech at the mass rally held in Seoul Plaza in central Seoul on Sunday.

Lee lost his youngest daughter, Lee Ju-young, on the night of Oct. 29. The 29-year-old daughter was planning to get married to her boyfriend in September this year.

Bereaved families of the tragedy held a memorial event near Seoul City Hall in central Seoul, commemorating the death of those who lost their lives during the disaster.

Family members on stage stressed the significance of legislating the Itaewon Disaster Special Act aimed at guaranteeing the rights of disaster victims, fact-finding and preventing recurrences. They also vowed to discover the actual cause of the tragedy and punish those responsible.

“The Itaewon Disaster Special Act is the most important law to uncover the cause of the tragedy and to prevent similar accidents from taking place in the future,” Lee said.

“It is also the only law for the citizens to recover from their traumatic stress.”

As Lee and other family members continued their speeches on stage, some raised signs saying “Remember Oct. 29" while others shed tears, nodding and applauding.

Political figures from the Democratic Party (DP), including DP head Lee Jae-myung and the party's floor leader Hong Ihk-pyo, were at the rally.

“A year has passed since 159 worlds collapsed, but nothing has changed,” DP chief Lee Jae-myung said during his eulogy on stage.

“The government has not been by the victims and the bereaved families during the tragedy as well as right now,” Lee said, adding that he sends his deepest condolences to the families and will make sure his party will fight together until they “uncover the truth” behind the tragedy.

Before the main rally, the association of bereaved families held a joint prayer service ahead of the main memorial event at 2 p.m., led by religious leaders of the nation’s four major religions — Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism and Won Buddhism — near Exit 1 of Itaewon Station.

The participants then marched past the presidential office in Yongsan and toward City Hall Station to arrive at Seoul Plaza, where the memorial event occurred.

The rally organizer estimated around 3,000 people showed up at the memorial event.

Bereaved families of the Itaewon crowd crush and participants of the rally commemorating the victims of the tragedy hold signs asking for the legislation of the Itaewon Disaster Special Act during a rally held in Seoul Plaza in central Seoul on Sunday

Even hours before the main rally took place, the area was crowded as a long queue of people paid their respects to the victims of the Itaewon tragedy at a joint memorial altar near Seoul Plaza.

“I came here to show that I still have not forgotten about this tragic incident,” Kim Seo-yoon, a 23-year-old university student living in Mapo District, Western Seoul, told the Korea JoongAng Daily while standing in line at the joint memorial altar and holding a white chrysanthemum.

“It was a tragedy that should have never happened.”

During the rally that began at 5 p.m., family members on stage criticized the government, especially on the absence of President Yoon Suk Yeol at the event.

“Today's rally, commemorating the death of our children, is not a political rally,” said Lee Jeong-min, representing the bereaved family members.

President Yoon Suk Yeol decided not to attend the rally in downtown Seoul to avoid politicizing the tragedy, according to the presidential office. The leadership of the president’s People Power Party (PPP) also decided not to attend the rally for the same reason.

Instead, Yoon commemorated the Itaewon tragedy at a church earlier in the day.

“Last year was the saddest day of my life,” Yoon said while attending a memorial service Sunday at Youngahm Church, Seongbuk District in northern Seoul, for the people who died during the Itaewon disaster last year. “I believe everyone in the country feels the same.”

“I pray for the people who had lost their lives from the unexpected accident, and I would like to express my condolences to the families who lost loved ones.”

An official at the presidential office added that the intention to commemorate the Itaewon tragedy was the same regardless of where they paid their respects.

“In the last 12 months, the government has done everything it could to create a safe country,” President Yoon said. “We will work harder to achieve this goal.”

Regardless of the party decision, the head of the PPP’s new innovation committee, Ihn Yo-han, and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, attended the commemoration personally.

The capital’s mayor vowed “to repay the unforgettable and terrible sadness with a safe city” as he announced his attendance at the event, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Sunday.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO,LEE HO-JEONG [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]