Ministry of the Interior and Safety Holds First Government-wide TF Meeting on Multi-crowd Accident Prevention

Seeking Measures with Relevant Ministries and Experts to Prevent Recurrence of Accidents

Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min is delivering a speech at the government-wide task force meeting to ensure safety from mass crowd accidents at the Government Seoul Office Building on the afternoon of the 2nd. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety is operating an intergovernmental task force (TF) to establish safety management measures for crowd accidents in densely populated areas, following the Itaewon tragedy.

On the 2nd, the first meeting of the TF for safety management measures for crowd accidents was held at the Government Seoul Office, chaired by Minister Lee Sang-min of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Participants included related ministries such as the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, National Police Agency, and National Fire Agency, as well as Seoul City, Yongsan District, and private experts.

Minister Lee said, "Many issues have been raised through the media, and we need to examine these as well as problems that have not yet come to light, and create feasible measures to prevent recurrence."

He added, "This effort is to establish more fundamental and systematic safety management plans to ensure that such accidents never happen again. I also ask for candid opinions from the private sector regarding problems in the government's current safety system related to crowd accidents."

At the first meeting, the TF reviewed institutional problems revealed by the Itaewon tragedy, issues in event operation and on-site management from multiple perspectives, and sought measures for the roles of related ministries and recurrence prevention together with private experts.

They focused on discussing safety management measures to prepare for crowd accidents occurring in situations where there is no organizer, such as the Itaewon Halloween Festival.

Additionally, comprehensive plans to improve safety management for cultural tourism festivals, educational measures to raise safety culture awareness, and various improvements for social disaster prevention will also be reviewed.

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