Record High Foreign Casualties... Legal Community Alerted to Potential Increase in Lawsuit Scale Over Itaewon Disaster

On the 2nd, during the national mourning period following the large-scale crush disaster in Itaewon, a foreigner visiting the memorial space near Itaewon Station in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, is immersed in sorrow. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] As the number of foreign victims in the Halloween Itaewon disaster reached a record high, some in the legal community are closely watching whether foreigners will also file mass lawsuits against our government.

According to the legal community on the 3rd, 15 foreigners were injured and 26 lost their lives in the crush accident that occurred on October 30th in the alleys of Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. The number of foreign deaths was the highest in a major accident in South Korea. It even exceeded the 10 deaths in the 2007 fire at the foreigner detention center in Yeosu, Jeollanam-do.

An official from the legal community said, "Once the responsibility for the accident becomes clear through police investigations, there is a sufficient possibility that foreign victims and their families will pursue compensation and file lawsuits." Another official added, "If the special circumstances of foreigners suffering an unexpected accident while living abroad are emphasized, the scale of foreigner compensation could be recognized as quite substantial."

The reason the legal community is particularly anticipating the possibility of lawsuits by foreigners is due to the overseas perspective on this disaster. Recently, abroad, there have been repeated criticisms that our government agencies were negligent in maintaining order and management, which led to this disaster. Major foreign media also reported in this vein. For example, the influential U.S. newspaper The New York Times published an article on the 31st of last month stating, "Authorities including the police should have recognized this as a dangerous bottleneck area in advance, but no one established a crowd control plan for this area." Other foreign media such as The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) also pointed to a lack of police deployment and insufficient safety management measures in the face of large crowds as causes of the disaster.

These foreign media reports could lead to lawsuits by foreigners. If lawsuits are filed, it is currently likely that foreigners will submit complaints to our courts. Filing lawsuits in their own countries is likely to be dismissed. This is because our country is unlikely to be recognized as having jurisdiction by foreign courts, and especially because the principle of "sovereign immunity" under international customary law is applied in many countries. This means "a government of one country does not stand trial in the courts of another country for sovereign acts." However, there is also a view that this is not an absolute principle. Additionally, there are precedents that make exceptions for incidents threatening life such as war and terrorism, so it is difficult to completely rule out the possibility that our government could be summoned to foreign courts.

On the 3rd, during the national mourning period following the Itaewon tragedy, chrysanthemums were placed near the Itaewon tragedy site in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Even if lawsuits are filed in our courts, if foreign governments actively support lawsuits citing the protection of their nationals and proceed to directly investigate the Itaewon accident site, it is expected to place a significant burden on our government.

For now, our government plans to provide necessary support to foreign victims as it does for our citizens, including condolence money of 20 million KRW and funeral expenses up to 15 million KRW. The Ministry of Justice and its affiliated Korea Legal Aid Corporation are also assisting with legal support for damage recovery and claims for various support funds.

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