5th Anniversary Memorial Ceremony for 'Guui Station Kim' Tragedy Held... "Value of Life Respect Must Come First"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] On the 29th, the birthday of Kim, a young temporary worker who died while repairing subway screen doors alone, the bereaved families of industrial accident victims gathered in one place to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the disaster.

The Public Transport Union and others held a memorial service for the 5th anniversary of the Guui Station accident in the concourse of Seoul Subway Line 2 Guui Station. Attendees wore black clothing and held white chrysanthemums in their hands to pay tribute to Kim. The previous day marked the 5th anniversary of the disaster.

Hyun Jeong-hee, Chairperson of the Public Transport Union, said, "On the 5th anniversary of the Guui Station disaster, we gathered with the bereaved families to mourn the industrial accident workers who were unfairly sacrificed," adding, "The Serious Accident Corporate Punishment Act must be properly enacted."

The bereaved families emphasized the need to stop the ongoing deaths of workers caused by industrial accidents every year.

Yu Kyung-geun, Executive Director of the Sewol Ferry Families Association, said, "The families of the Sewol Ferry disaster have fought to end a society where bereaved families continue to be produced after the disaster, but it seems we were far from achieving that," adding, "It is shameful to the deceased that even though five years have passed since Kim’s death, we must repeatedly reaffirm and condemn the situation."

Kim Mi-sook, mother of the late Kim Yong-gyun, also emphasized, "Although the Serious Accident Corporate Punishment Act was enacted to reduce industrial accident deaths, the results have been disastrous," adding, "We must change society so that the value of respecting life takes precedence over cost reduction."

The bereaved families, politicians, and citizens who attended the memorial moved to the Guui Station 9-4 platform where Kim died, laid flowers, and left memorial messages on the platform screen doors. After the memorial, the families of social disaster victims and the National Railway and Subway Labor Union Council held a meeting at the Seoul Metro Union office to discuss the government's role in preventing the recurring industrial accidents every year.

Youth Jeon Tae-il and the Seoul Metro Labor Union also held a press conference at Guui Station on the same day, urging the Seoul Metropolitan Government to implement the recommendations of the Guui Station fact-finding team. They criticized the newly established 'Platform Safety Door Management Team,' created to strengthen expertise, for being operated haphazardly without a proper system. They also pointed out that although the small number of workers violating the two-person team rule at the time of the Guui Station disaster was identified as a cause of the accident, the recent reduction of personnel in the PSD (Platform Screen Door) sector from 552 to 451 by the corporation must be immediately stopped, as it plans to cut safety personnel on site.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.