Citizens Express Shock and Rage as They Grieve Young Souls Who Died in Itaewon Crush

Lee Insook marched into a grassy field in the middle of Seoul on a clear, cloudless afternoon in October, sat down, and started to weep. She aimed her heartbreaking sobs at a massive platform covered in flowers—a public altar honoring the several young souls killed in Saturday night's Itaewon crush—while clutching a handmade sign that read, "I'm so sorry, guys."

Citizens grieve for the lost souls

Insook was one of the tens of thousands of Seoul citizens who flocked to the altar at City Hall on Monday as the city wrestled with grief and rage over the calamity, the worst to hit the nation since the Sewol ferry sank in 2014, killing more than 300 people. Additionally, families with young children, office employees, housewives, and pensioners all lined up in a single file. The mourners made deep bows and deposited white chrysanthemum stalks—a South Korean sign of grief—at the altar after receiving them from the organizers. Some people prayed quietly while others sobbed. Many people arrived to leave chrysanthemum bouquets at the tragedy site in Itaewon, which was a few kilometers distant. Small bottles of the popular alcoholic beverage soju were among them. It was a gift made to the dead as a farewell drink for their departed spirits. A housewife from Gimpo, a neighborhood outside of Seoul, named Jung Chankyung traveled more than an hour to the center of the city to pay her respects. She stated, her eyes welling with tears, "Watching scenes of the tragedy on the news just felt unreal, so heartbreaking and shocking. I called my children to make sure they were safe." Many of the people who showed up at City Hall were young, like Kim Min-jeong, who was in his 20s. "It's quite surprising. I feel really sad because the victims are my age, and so many are women too. I think a lack of control probably caused [this]," she said.

Additional details

98 women and 56 men were among the 154 fatalities killed in Saturday night's Itaewon crush. Women may have perished in higher numbers because of their smaller stature, which made it more difficult for them to maneuver themselves up to breathe or escape the crush. Koo Jaehoon came very close to dying. On Saturday night, the 29-year-old Itaewon regular intended to go down there to party but changed his mind at the last minute when he heard it was getting busy. He said, "I don't feel lucky. I feel sad… actually I have visited the alley many times, it was where I met friends, smoked, talked, and waited in line [to get into pubs]. If there's somebody responsible, this person must be punished. But I don't want people to debate the lack of police force and lack of public order right now… I want people to have the time to grieve." However, more people are starting to query. And although the cause of the crush is yet unknown, charges have been made against the authorities, claiming they should have taken additional measures to avert what many consider to be a completely preventable catastrophe. The probe into the Itaewon crush will be thorough, South Korean prime minister Han Duck-soo has pledged, to "make necessary institutional changes so that such an accident is not repeated." However, the Korean media noted that just two weeks prior, 2,700 security personnel were on duty at a K-pop superstar BTS concert in the southern city of Busan, which drew 55,000 people. On the other hand, only 137 officers from Seoul were present at Itaewon on Saturday night to control a gathering that was in the thousands for the first Halloween event without masks since Covid. Also, Read: Syrup Death Toll Rises in Indonesia, Comprising Mostly Children

What's more

Authorities claim that this year they deployed more personnel than they did during pre-Covid festivities and that on that particular night they had to divert a sizable number of cops to other parts of Seoul to deal with potential disturbances. But a nearby labor union already made their point just across the street from City Hall. According to large black banners that read, "The right to be safe is the basic right of all citizens. There is no other value to be prioritized than the lives of people and their safety." Lee Insook was furious as she stood on the green field. "This is a human disaster, it wouldn't have happened if the government had controlled public order. The government is responsible for this. The older generation is also responsible, they have voted wrongly. "It's unbelievable this could have happened here in South Korea, a developed country… I am here because all South Korean young people should live in a safe, fair, and peaceful place," said Lee Insook, who's a grandmother. She exclaimed, "It's our fault they died!"