[The Editors' Verdict] Once Again, the Adults Were Wrong

Past Pop Concert Tragedies Blamed on Youth
Time to Reflect on Adult Responsibility

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Jong-min] Thirty years ago, in 1992, the top pop stars were undoubtedly the New Kids on the Block. This American boy band, composed of white young men, enjoyed popularity surpassing even BTS. They came to Korea. It was natural that teenagers’ attention was drawn to them. The result was tragic. The desire to see the stars up close caused injuries to 50 audience members. One high school girl eventually passed away.

Twelve years earlier, in June 1980, singer Leif Garrett, who was at the peak of his popularity, visited Korea. It was natural that teenage and young adult female audiences were enthusiastic. However, articles criticized it as the reckless behavior of immature kids.

Going back a bit further, in October 1969, when British pop star Cliff Richard visited Korea, the sight of young female fans crowding Gimpo Airport and the concert venue shocked the older generation. Although no accidents occurred, scenes of fans throwing off their underwear and fainting and being carried out were not acceptable in South Korea at that time.

On October 29, 2022, over 100,000 young people gathered in Itaewon for a Halloween party. The prevailing view was that this was an indiscriminate following of Western culture. With such a perspective, it was no surprise that preparations were inadequate. Are the young people who enjoy Halloween, a U.S.-centered festival, really the problem? I watched Halloween Day in Manhattan, New York, last year in person and just now on YouTube. The Halloween parade in Manhattan draws large crowds. The New York Police Department set up barricades along the parade route and carefully monitored surrounding alleys. It seemed as if all the New York police were deployed. Although the large crowd was somewhat inconvenient, there was no sense of danger.

Our Halloween culture differs from that of the U.S. When I was a New York correspondent, I witnessed a Halloween culture that was completely different. Families carved pumpkins to make “Jack-o’-lanterns,” decorated their houses competitively with neighbors, and both children and adults wore Halloween costumes to visit neighbors, shouting “trick or treat.” But that is not the only aspect of Halloween. Young people dressed up extravagantly with friends and enjoyed the Halloween parade held in Manhattan, savoring the last day of October. Greenwich Village, Manhattan’s equivalent of Hongdae, was a place where young people expressed their creativity. Their safety was protected by the police and the local community’s elders.

Expressing youth is a privilege of youth. Those young people inevitably lead social development. The young people of 1992, 1980, and 1969, who caused concern among adults, led Korea to become the world’s 7th largest economy. Yet, even this time, adults have not changed. 156 young people lost their lives. It was the adults who failed to protect them. I, we, were wrong.

It is frustrating. I want to ask Park Hee-young, Yongsan District Mayor, who gave a greeting at the opening ceremony of the ‘2022 Itaewon Global Festival’ on the 15th of last month: Did you really not anticipate the crowd? What about Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min’s remark that “this was not a problem that could be solved simply by deploying police and firefighters in advance”? I recall 1992 again. Adults said the accident was caused by the young people’s fault, but the problem was the negligence of the event organizers in safety management. The problem lies with the adults.

Baek Jong-min, Head of Opinion Department

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