[Itaewon Tragedy] Park Jin, "Support for Foreign Casualties Equal to Citizens"

Foreign Minister Park Jin to Attend National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee on 31st
Announces Support Policy for Foreign Victims of Itaewon Crowd Crush Tragedy

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] On the 31st, Foreign Minister Park Jin stated regarding the large number of foreign casualties in the Itaewon crowd crush disaster in Seoul on the 29th, "We are reviewing how to provide support to foreign casualties on par with our citizens as much as possible."

Foreign Minister Park Jin attended the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee plenary meeting held at the National Assembly on the 31st and provided a briefing on current issues related to the "Itaewon tragedy." Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Minister Park made this remark during a session of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee that morning, responding to a question from Yoon Ho-jung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, who emphasized that there should be no discrimination against foreign casualties in funeral support, compensation, and consolation payments.

Regarding the legal basis for support to foreign casualties, Minister Park explained, "According to the Framework Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety, support can be provided to foreigners on par with nationals in areas declared as special disaster zones."

In his opening remarks that day, Minister Park offered condolences to the victims who lost their lives in the Itaewon disaster. He said about government support, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has assigned one official per deceased person to coordinate with the bereaved families and take necessary measures."

He added, "To facilitate the entry of bereaved families, necessary measures will be taken through our diplomatic missions in the affected areas. A letter of condolence in the minister’s name has been separately sent to the relevant Korean diplomatic missions where deaths occurred."

Minister Park reported that as of now, there have been 26 foreign deaths and 15 injuries due to the Itaewon disaster; among the injured, 14 have returned home and one is still receiving treatment in the hospital.

He stated, "Since the accident, we have held four emergency meetings for urgent situation checks and promptly notified the Korean embassies of the countries where casualties occurred of the casualty lists. We are also receiving inquiries about missing foreigners through the consular call center."

Minister Park said that since the accident, condolence or sympathy messages have been received from the United States, China, Japan, France, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Nations Secretary-General, and "we plan to send replies to each."

Meanwhile, Minister Park visited the joint memorial altar for the Itaewon accident victims set up at Seoul City Hall Plaza that afternoon to pay his respects.

After paying respects, he told reporters regarding funeral support for foreign victims, "All overseas diplomatic missions have been instructed to maintain emergency duty status. We have contacted the bereaved families of the deceased to assist with post-incident arrangements."

When asked whether support would be possible if some casualties were found to be undocumented immigrants, he replied, "Since they came to Korea and suffered an unfortunate accident, we will try to provide necessary support as much as possible."

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