[The Police File] The Itaewon Tragedy Was Also a Man-Made Disaster

During the national mourning period following the Itaewon tragedy, the memorial space set up around Itaewon Station in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on the 3rd is filled with condolence messages written by citizens. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Massive surge in 112 emergency calls before the disaster was effectively ignored

Authorities stood by despite safety concerns

Responsibility and prevention measures must be properly addressed this time

It was indeed a man-made disaster. The Itaewon tragedy, which resulted in over 300 casualties including 156 deaths, is increasingly being revealed as stemming from the government's inadequate response. Not only did authorities fail to establish safety measures despite anticipating a large crowd, but they also did not properly respond even as warning signs sounded throughout the site on the day of the incident. Particularly shocking is the fact that the police virtually ignored the continuous 112 emergency calls from citizens just before the disaster occurred.

According to the 112 call recordings released by the National Police Agency, the first call was received about four hours before the accident, at 6:34 p.m. on the 29th of last month. The caller urgently reported, "People are getting tangled up and might be crushed to death. The police need to control the crowd at the entrance." The call came from the alley next to the Hamilton Hotel near Itaewon Station, exactly where the disaster happened. However, the police dismissed it as a ‘general inconvenience report’ and took no special action. Around 8 p.m., calls expressing concern about an accident flooded in. Reports included "People are collapsing on the street" (8:33 p.m.), "A major accident is imminent" (9 p.m.), and "Please control the area to allow one-way traffic" (9:07 p.m.), with specific suggestions for solutions. The words ‘crush’ and ‘control’ were repeated nine times each by 11 different callers, indicating an urgent situation. The last call, received four minutes before the accident, even included screams over the phone. Yet the police never responded. When firefighters finally arrived at 10:17 p.m., many citizens were already lying unconscious in cardiac arrest across the streets.

Three days before the disaster, on the 26th of last month, a meeting was held with the police, Yongsan District Office, and merchant groups, where concerns about safety accidents were raised due to the Halloween festival being held for the first time in three years without social distancing. A few days before the festival, the Yongsan Police Station also submitted a report to higher authorities warning of potential safety accidents. Despite this being a foreseeable situation, the authorities collectively took no action, citing the festival’s unofficial status as a mere formal excuse. Lee Sang-min, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the head of disaster safety, sparked public outrage with evasive remarks in the early stages of the accident, such as "Deploying fire and police personnel in advance would not have solved the problem," and "I doubt that a shortage of police and fire personnel was the cause of the accident." However, the newly released 112 call recordings testify to how complacent and shameless the government’s response and the minister’s statements were.

It has become clear that the state bears responsibility for this tragedy. Had the police properly responded to the initial warning signs, the Itaewon disaster could have been prevented. Young people in their 20s and 30s, who witnessed the deaths of their peers in the Sewol ferry sinking, were crushed to death eight years later in the heart of Seoul. The failure to properly reflect on past disasters has led to another tragedy. This time, the responsibility must be clearly identified, and effective measures to prevent recurrence must be established. How many more sacrifices must be made before our society wakes up?

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