[Itaewon Disaster] "Feels Like Watching a Live-Action Squid Game" Survivor of Sampoong Disaster Witnesses Itaewon Tragedy

Writer Lee Seon-min: "So many people dying in everyday life, not on the battlefield"
Comforting victims and families of Itaewon crush accident through SNS

On the 30th, flowers and letters commemorating the victims were placed near the site of the Halloween crowd crush accident in Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] A survivor of the 1995 Sampoong Department Store collapse criticized the Itaewon crowd crush incident, saying, "It is a night I simply cannot understand that so many people die at once in everyday life, not on a battlefield," and pointed out, "It seems like the entire nation of South Korea is playing Squid Game in real life together."

Lee Seon-min (46), a writer using the pen name 'Sanman Unni,' wrote on her Facebook on the night of the 30th, "I cannot understand that people still die in South Korea, an advanced economy, without any particular reason. Healthy children go on school trips or enjoy festivals with friends and return as cold corpses," adding, "No matter how much I think about it all day, I just cannot accept it. Why? How? Again? These questions keep coming to mind," she criticized.

Lee then referred to a previous interview she gave, saying, "(South Korea) repeats a dangerous survival game every day, vaguely thinking 'I and my family won't die.' Disasters do not discriminate. This time, you were just 'lucky' not to be the victim."

She continued, "What words could possibly comfort the victims and their families in this situation... (omitted)... but I want to say this one thing: 'It is not your fault,'" emphasizing. She concluded her post by expressing, "I deeply mourn the deaths of those who suddenly lost their lives and the grief of those who lost their families."

Previously, in June 1995, the Sampoong Department Store in Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, collapsed, killing 502 people and injuring 937. The cause of the disaster was revealed to be human error due to poor construction or lax safety management, sparking national outrage. Lee is a survivor of the Sampoong Department Store collapse and published a book last year titled I am a Sampoong Survivor, compiling writings about the aftereffects she experienced.

As of 6 a.m. on the 31st, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters reported that the Itaewon crowd crush incident resulted in 154 deaths, 33 seriously injured, and 116 minor injuries, totaling 303 casualties. This is an increase from the previous count of 286 as of 11 p.m. the day before. However, the number of seriously injured decreased by 3 from 36. Minor injuries increased by 10 from 96, and the death toll remained unchanged at 154.

Identification has been completed for 153 of the 154 deceased, with identification ongoing for one person. Among the deceased, 26 were foreigners: 5 from Iran, 4 from China, 4 from Russia, 2 from the United States, 2 from Japan, and one each from France, Australia, Norway, Austria, Vietnam, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Sri Lanka.

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