[Itaewon Tragedy] Police "Did Not Anticipate Large-Scale Casualties"

Large-scale Event Without Organizer
No Manual to Prevent Accidents

On the 31st, police are controlling the scene at the Itaewon crush accident site in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] It was confirmed on the 31st that the police do not have a manual to prepare for and prevent a crush disaster like the one that occurred on the night of the 29th in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

A National Police Agency official said at a regular press briefing that morning, "As far as I know, there is no manual for events where large crowds are expected to gather without an organizer," adding, "If there is an organizer, local governments and administrative authorities, police, and fire departments can establish safety accident prevention measures in advance through prior consultation, but in this case, there are difficulties in prevention." This means that if an event, like the Itaewon Halloween festival, is not hosted by a specific organization but is voluntarily participated in by local small business owners and citizens, there is no response manual at all.

Some voices criticize the disaster response agencies such as local governments and police for their inadequate response to the Itaewon tragedy. Despite anticipating crowds of at least tens of thousands, no one took the lead in safety management because there was no event organizer. The official said, "In light of this accident, for events where no management entity exists but large crowds are expected, there should be social consensus and supplementary measures on the extent of public sector involvement to prevent such tragic accidents from recurring," adding, "The police have also started preparing related manuals."

Earlier, the police expected a crowd of 100,000 people in Itaewon over the weekend ahead of Halloween. However, they did not anticipate such a large-scale casualty. He said, "Not only this year but also in the past, the response on site focused more on illegal crackdowns, crime prevention, and traffic flow rather than crowd control," "and as far as I know, no special measures such as control were taken in the alley where the accident occurred this year either."

Immediately after the accident, the police formed an investigation headquarters of 475 personnel at the Yongsan Police Station and began investigating the cause and responsibility of the accident. Nam Gu-jun, head of the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency, said, "No suspects have been booked so far," and "We are carefully verifying the circumstances of the accident through witness interviews and CCTV footage analysis." He added, "We have completed the first round of investigations for 44 people including the injured and witnesses," and "We are conducting detailed analyses not only of public CCTV installed around the accident site but also private CCTV and SNS videos."

On the same day, the police will conduct a joint on-site inspection with the National Forensic Service (NFS) at 2 p.m. The police plan to investigate the alley next to the Hamilton Hotel, where the deaths were concentrated, as well as nearby roads and shops to understand how the crowd gathered all at once. Head Nam said, "We will clearly identify the cause of the accident through the joint inspection."

The police also plan to strictly respond to the leakage of personal information, dissemination of false information, and defamation acts online, as photos and videos of the deceased and posts that may damage the honor of the victims have spread. Head Nam said, "We have started pre-booking investigations on six posts that defame the deceased," and "We have requested deletion and blocking of a total of 63 posts to the Korea Communications Standards Commission and site operators." He added, "We will actively consider starting investigations even before complaints are filed against malicious false or defamatory posts or acts of distributing victims' personal information."

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