Families unveil memorial at site of Seoul's deadly 2022 crowd crush

A plaque designating the narrow alleyway in South Korea’s capital where nearly 160 people were crushed to death during Halloween festivities last year was unveiled by victims’ relatives on Thursday.

Last Halloween, tens of thousands of people — mostly in their 20s and 30s — had been out to enjoy post-pandemic holiday celebrations in Seoul’s Itaewon district, but the night turned deadly with no effective crowd control and bungled official responses to calls for help.

The site of the crush — now decorated with hundreds of notes in tribute to the victims — was officially designated the “October 29 Memorial Alley” by the government. But Thursday’s unveiling ceremony was attended mostly by families of those killed and civil society groups, with no senior government representatives present.

“This is a place to remember the people who became stars in the sky in an alleyway in the middle of Seoul while enjoying their daily lives on the night of October 29, 2022,” said Lee Jung-min, a representative of bereaved families, at a ceremony unveiling

“It is also a place to pledge safety so that something like this does not happen again in the future,” he added.

One of the Post-it notes at the site read: “It’s been a year but I still sometimes think of you. I hope you can enjoy your youth in heaven, even though you could not enjoy it here.”

Lee, who lost his 28-year-old daughter to the crowd crush, said families of the victims were still looking for answers.

Lee, along with around 100 other bereaved relatives and activists, is pushing for the passage of a law mandating an independent counsel investigation into what went wrong and who was responsible for the deadly crush.

Despite a formal investigation and ongoing prosecutions of local officials, no one has yet been legally convicted.

“Only by raising awareness through a clear investigation of the truth and punishment of those truly responsible will everyone be able to live their daily lives safely,” Lee said.

‘Pain and anger’ –

At a press conference Thursday, the families of the victims demanded answers about what exactly had happened and who was being held responsible, saying they continued to experience “frustration, pain and anger”.

“It has been a year since our loved ones have passed and we still know nothing more than what we heard on October 29, 2022,” said Nari Kim, who lost her brother that night.

No further information has been offered to the victims’ families since they were first informed of the disaster, said Yu Hyoung-woo, a father of one of the victims, adding: “The truth of that day is still unravelling.”

Online, social media users have continued to try to paint the late victims as having been “disorderly” people or even accusing them of being involved with drugs, Yu added.

“We are all aware that no matter what we do, we will not be able to bring back our loved ones, but we will need to fight until the people who are responsible for this disaster take responsibility,” Kim said.

While this year’s Halloween is expected to be very subdued, with many shops and bars opting not to run promotions or decorate for the holiday, Lee Ju-hyun, a survivor of last year’s deadly disaster, says she plans to go back to Itaewon this weekend.

“The tragedy should not lead to any condemnation or hatred of the Itaewon area or the Halloween festival and I think it’s an individual’s choice to go to the Itaewon festival this year,” she said.

“Itaewon and the Halloween festival are not guilty,” she said. “Those who were responsible for crowd control are guilty.”

The victims who went to Itaewon last Halloween were not to be blamed, she said, adding: “I would like to be there as a way to remember and pay tribute to them.”

by Sunghee Hwang