[Opinion] Do Not Slander Halloween

Looking back, all I can say is that I was just lucky. I crossed the Seongsu Bridge a few days before it collapsed, and I often visited the Sampoong Department Store as well. Since the neighborhood I lived in was between the two places, Seongsu Bridge and Sampoong Department Store were part of my everyday life. After the Itaewon tragedy, when I checked my phone, a series of photos taken at the Itaewon Halloween festival before COVID-19 appeared.

Seeing my face made up as the Joker from the movie Dark Knight and the crowds that filled the streets at that time makes me feel distant. Yes. Neither I nor you, the reader, can be free from this kind of social disaster.

Many words have been spoken about the Itaewon tragedy, and they continue to pour out. Among them, there is one opinion I cannot agree with: the criticism questioning why people get so excited about Halloween when it is not our own traditional custom. This is commonly seen in news comments or community boards. To those who say this, I want to ask back:

Is it wrong to be passionate about soccer or baseball games that are not our own traditional sports? Are the global fans who love K-pop problematic? Are people who enjoy Hollywood movies strange? If you belittle Halloween because it is not our own tradition, do you wear hanbok, eat only Korean food, listen only to gugak, and sleep on ondol? Just as there is no reason to criticize someone for going to a movie or performance, there is absolutely no reason to criticize someone for attending a Halloween festival.

I also wonder about this. Why was there no criticism of the victims of the Seongsu Bridge collapse for crossing that bridge? No reproach for going to the Sampoong Department Store, no mockery for boarding the Sewol ferry. Then why are only the victims of the Itaewon tragedy ridiculed? I suspect it is due to a distorted unconsciousness that condemns play as sin. In Korea, during the extremely short period of industrialization, a social atmosphere prevailed that praised work and study but condemned playing and resting as sinful acts.

The harder you worked and studied, the louder the applause; the more you played and rested, the more fingers were pointed at you. Oh dear. It seems that this outdated culture, which should have disappeared long ago, still remains. However, it is fortunate that there are far more people who reprimand those who make such outdated criticisms.

In conclusion, I want to say this: Do not slander Halloween. Do not criticize those who play or rest. Students returning home after studying late at the library, office workers leaving after overtime, audiences enjoying Beethoven’s symphony at a New Year’s concert, and citizens enjoying the Halloween festival in Itaewon all equally have the right to be guaranteed at least minimal safety by the state.

Conversely, the state has the duty to guarantee them at least minimal safety. Looking at the situation at the time of the accident and the 112 emergency call logs, the state clearly failed to fulfill even the minimum duty.

The reason I repeat the word “minimum” is because there are certainly situations that cannot be resolved by public authority, and also to caution against public authority excessively infringing on individual freedom under the pretext of safety. I hope that this tragedy will lead to the establishment of standards and procedures for public authority intervention in spaces where we play and rest, to ensure safety.

Praying for the repose of the victims, I also offer my sincere apologies and condolences to the bereaved families. I support those who survived in overcoming their trauma.

Lee Jae-ik, Novelist

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