[Itaewon Tragedy] Foreign Fatality Count: Central Disaster HQ 20 vs Police 26... Repeated Confusion Amid Disaster

Jungdaebon Corrects Number of Foreign Deaths from 20 to 26
Serious Injury Count Also Adjusted, Decreased by 3 Due to Statistical Error

On the 30th, ahead of Halloween, flowers were placed in the Itaewon area of Yongsan-gu, Seoul, to commemorate the victims of the large-scale crush disaster that occurred in the Itaewon district. Photo by Kang Jin-hyeong aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] The government's casualty tally management system has once again come under scrutiny in relation to the crush disaster that occurred in Itaewon on the night of the 29th.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) announced on the morning of the 31st at 6 a.m. that the human casualties from the Itaewon crush accident totaled 303, including 154 deaths, 33 serious injuries, and 116 minor injuries. This figure increased from the previous tally of 286 as of 11 p.m. the day before, although the number of serious injuries decreased by 3 from 36. The identities of 153 of the deceased have been confirmed, and identification work for the remaining one is ongoing.

The problematic part concerns the number of foreign nationals among the deceased. Until the afternoon of the previous day, the CDSCH had announced that there were 20 foreign nationals among the dead. However, the newly announced number of foreign nationals deceased by the CDSCH on this day was 26, consisting of 5 Iranians, 4 Chinese, 4 Russians, 2 Americans, 2 Japanese, and one each from France, Australia, Norway, Austria, Vietnam, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Sri Lanka. There was no change in the total number of deaths.

The police, who confirmed the identities of the deceased and notified the bereaved families of the deaths, began accurately tallying and announcing the number of foreign nationals deceased from the afternoon of the 30th. However, despite ongoing police announcements, the CDSCH did not revise its statistics until the morning of the 31st, when it was finally updated to 26.

There were also errors in the foreign national statistics announced earlier by the fire department. Initially, the number of foreign nationals deceased was announced as 2, but by 9 a.m. on the 30th, it had increased to 19. The fire department explained that the number of foreign nationals deceased increased significantly because some were initially classified as Korean nationals due to similar appearances but were corrected after identification. The CDSCH apparently adopted this tally without review and announced it as is.

Ambassadors from various countries in Korea expressed sorrow over the casualties among their nationals, and foreign media have been actively assessing the damage to their citizens related to this disaster. Criticism has arisen that the government’s response was complacent, as it failed to accurately recognize even the number of foreign nationals deceased.

Additionally, the number of serious injuries decreased from 36 as of 11 p.m. the previous day to 33 on this day, reportedly due to correction of statistical errors. Despite these frequent statistical errors, the CDSCH avoided giving a direct answer, stating, “The person in charge is currently not available, so it is difficult to provide an accurate explanation.”

In this Itaewon disaster, considered the worst disaster since the Sewol ferry tragedy, it appears difficult for related agencies to avoid criticism as they still fail to properly grasp even the basic figures. During the Sewol ferry accident, confusion also arose due to discrepancies in basic statistics such as the number of dead and missing or the number of victims whose funerals had been completed.

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