'National Security System Inspection' Working Meeting Held Half a Day After Yoon's Directive (Comprehensive)

- On the 3rd, ordered the establishment of the 'Itaewon Accident One-Stop Integrated Support Center' for bereaved families and injured
- Mentioned the National Trauma Center, urging "to ensure thorough overcoming and psychological treatment"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] On the 3rd, President Yoon Seok-yeol instructed the establishment of the 'Itaewon Accident One-Stop Integrated Support Center' for the bereaved families of the victims and the injured of the 'Itaewon Disaster.' The 'Public-Private Joint National Safety System Inspection Meeting' that President Yoon announced is scheduled to be held on the 7th, and working-level meetings for this have already begun, with discussions taking place on various issues.

According to the Presidential Office on the 3rd, after paying respects at the government joint memorial altar at Seoul Plaza in the morning, President Yoon called his aides and instructed, "Create an integrated support center that can assist the bereaved families and those injured closely."

The support center will be newly established jointly by related ministries within the Prime Minister's Office. It will be responsible for measures such as funeral arrangements for the deceased, treatment of the injured, payment of relief funds, and psychological therapy. President Yoon also instructed, "Make thorough efforts for trauma recovery and psychological treatment centered on the National Trauma Center." Accordingly, the National Trauma Center plans to expand necessary services not only for bereaved families, the injured, witnesses, and on-site response personnel but also for citizens experiencing psychological stress, following President Yoon's directive.

The National Safety System Inspection Meeting, which President Yoon ordered at the last Cabinet meeting, will be held on the morning of the 7th. The working-level meeting was held less than half a day after President Yoon stated at the Cabinet meeting on the 1st, "I will hold a safety system inspection meeting with related ministers and experts." This reflects the internal atmosphere that swift action is needed for accident response and follow-up measures, as the Itaewon disaster caused large-scale casualties and government responsibility issues are spreading.

In line with President Yoon's instructions, the National Situation Room immediately invited external experts to discuss plans for establishing a supplementary system for 'crowd management.' A Presidential Office official explained, "It is still not easy to find accurate experts who can classify various types of crowd accidents domestically," adding, "We sought opinions mainly from researchers and university professors who possess relevant data."

At the meeting, opinions were exchanged regarding the absence of manuals for crowd accidents and approaches by type. They reviewed crowd accidents linked to building fires or burial accidents by type and set directions for establishing a response system. An official who attended the meeting said, "While the government has basic response systems in place by ministry and related agencies for common accidents, everyone recognized that the response system for accidents in open spaces like this incident is still insufficient."

Primarily, they decided to focus on analyzing research cases from the U.S. and Japan in addition to accumulated domestic research cases. Another attendee explained that in the U.S. and Japan, after similar past accidents, response systems and related research have been extensively conducted. Additionally, they plan to refer to causes and response cases of crowd accidents that occurred in the Middle East and Europe.

The Presidential Office plans to set the basic direction for plan establishment through a meeting directly chaired by President Yoon next week, and related ministries and experts will collaboratively fill in the details accordingly. After outlining the plan, they will organize necessary institutional improvement matters and request support from the National Assembly and ministries. In the mid to long term, they also plan to promote the establishment of a system to improve public awareness.

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