[Itaewon Tragedy] Governor Kim Dong-yeon, 'Briefly Tearful,' Says "Joint Memorial Altar to Be Set Up Today... Full Support Provided"

Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon is holding an emergency press conference at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office on the 31st regarding the Halloween crowd crush disaster in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Kim Dong-yeon, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, announced that joint memorial altars will be set up today in the southern and northern regions of Gyeonggi in relation to the Halloween stampede disaster that occurred in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

He also emphasized that utmost efforts will be made for psychological recovery and trauma treatment for the victims and their families. Furthermore, he promised not to spare any support for follow-up measures such as accident recovery.

On the 31st, Governor Kim held an emergency press conference at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office regarding the accident, saying, "I once again offer my deepest condolences and sympathy to the families who are plunged into unspeakable pain and despair," and "Gyeonggi Province will take full responsibility for the accident recovery and follow-up measures and provide all possible support and actions."

He particularly expressed sorrow, stating, "(This incident) is a tragedy that should never have happened, and I cannot contain my grief," and "As the governor responsible for protecting the lives and safety of the residents, I feel a heavy responsibility and deep sadness."

Governor Kim then presented follow-up measures including ▲setting up joint memorial altars ▲operating an emergency response support team ▲mobilizing medical support systems ▲emergency inspection of festivals and events ▲and preparing measures to prevent recurrence.

He first emphasized, "We will operate a permanent situation room within the currently active emergency response support team," and "We will provide one-stop support for the victims' families and the injured, and assign one-to-one public officials from the province and city/county governments to the families of the victims and the injured to ensure thorough support."

He added, "We will fully support not only residents of the province but also all others, including residents from other cities and provinces who are hospitalized or laid to rest in hospitals within the jurisdiction, with the mindset of caring for our own family," and "At the same time, we will mobilize all available medical support systems to ensure thorough treatment of the injured, psychological recovery, and trauma treatment."

Additionally, he promised, "We will cancel or postpone events held within the province, and ensure that upcoming events are thoroughly managed and inspected so that they can proceed safely."

He said, "We will set up joint memorial altars today at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office and the Northern Office to mourn with the residents. We will stay with the deceased until they rest in peace," and choked up briefly without continuing.

Governor Kim stated, "The most important task is not recovery after an accident but prevention to ensure accidents do not happen," and "Gyeonggi Province will establish safety management plans for all events and festivals to do its best to prevent similar accidents. We will fundamentally fix and improve what needs to be fixed by taking necessary financial and administrative measures so that such accidents never happen again."

Meanwhile, according to the Gyeonggi Provincial Fire and Disaster Headquarters on the same day, a total of 38 residents of the province died in this accident. By gender, there were 16 males and 22 females, and by age, 1 in their teens, 30 in their twenties, and 7 in their thirties. There are 8 seriously injured, including one foreigner.

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