Preventing a Second Itaewon Disaster... Police Operate Task Force for Crowd Management Measures

On the 2nd, during the national mourning period following the large-scale crush disaster in Itaewon, police forces are controlling access around the Itaewon disaster site in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] The National Police Agency announced on the 2nd that it has launched a 'Crowd Management (CROWD MANAGEMENT) Task Force (TF)' to prevent a recurrence of the Itaewon tragedy and has begun establishing safety management measures.

The Crowd Management TF team will be co-led by the Director of the Security Bureau and one external expert, and will form an external advisory group consisting of 10 to 20 private experts in related fields such as the National Police Agency, crowd management, urban planning, safety engineering, and artificial intelligence.

In this regard, the police held a preparatory meeting on the same day and plan to hold the first TF team meeting on the 9th at 3 p.m., chaired by the Commissioner of the National Police Agency.

The National Police Agency judged that events without organizers have incomplete core safety-related information such as the number of participants, characteristics, and location, leading to flaws in risk assessment and consequently weakening the police's on-site response, and plans to focus on supplementing this.

The National Police Agency plans to develop tools for measuring risk based on crowd density when large crowds gather and to establish a scientific risk warning system.

A National Police Agency official explained, "To ensure that large-scale casualties like the Itaewon incident never recur, we will mobilize the capabilities of both police and private experts to the fullest extent and do our best to establish a comprehensive safety management system, including the preparation of related manuals."

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