Government Prepares Measures to Manage Subway Crowds During Rush Hour... Establishes Safety Management Guidelines

On the sixth day since the Itaewon tragedy, citizens visiting the joint memorial altar set up at Seoul Plaza on the 3rd are paying tribute to the victims. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] Following the recent Itaewon crowd crush disaster, the government has established measures to manage overcrowded subway crowds where the possibility of crowd crush accidents has been raised, and has enacted safety management guidelines.

On the 3rd, the government, chaired by Minister Lee Sang-min of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, held a multi-ministerial meeting on safety prevention for densely crowded places to prepare countermeasures against crowd accidents in subway stations of special cities, metropolitan cities, and large cities with populations over 500,000. This meeting was convened to turn various proposals presented at the previous day’s government-wide task force (TF) meeting on preventing crowd crush accidents into policy. Attendees included Park Bo-gyun, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Yoon Hee-geun, Commissioner of the National Police Agency; Nam Hwa-young, Deputy Commissioner of the Fire Agency (acting Commissioner); and Oh Seok-hwan, Director of Planning and Coordination at the Ministry of Education.

The government decided to issue advance warnings if there is concern about crowd crush accidents due to overcrowding in subway stations. Additionally, local governments will be encouraged to conduct accident prevention activities during peak hours at subway transfer stations. When large-scale crowded events occur, a system will be established for each local government to build public-private cooperation frameworks.

The government will grant clear on-site guidelines and authority so that frontline police officers and firefighters can actively respond to prevent crowd accidents. Furthermore, it was announced that the “Safety Management Guidelines for Crowd Crush Accidents” will be enacted, as decided at the previous day’s government-wide TF meeting on preventing crowd crush accidents. This guideline was established in line with the amendment to the “Framework Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety” proposed in the National Assembly the day before, which imposes safety management obligations on local governments for events without organizers, such as the Itaewon disaster.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to supplement disaster response manuals for venues such as performance halls to prevent crowd crush accidents in indoor spaces. It will also build a system that uses the latest scientific technology to analyze real-time crowd density and predict risks.

There was also an opinion that education for police officers is necessary. It was pointed out that intensive crowd management training should be provided to police riot squads performing order maintenance duties on-site, and special command training on crowd management should be conducted for police station chiefs.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced plans to allow families of seriously injured or deceased victims to receive unemployment benefits even if they retire due to mental shock or caregiving. In addition, if basic beneficiaries have difficulty actively seeking jobs, eligibility requirements will be relaxed, and workplaces will be requested to allow family care leave and additional separate leave or sabbaticals to support the psychological stability of victims’ families.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to support medical expenses for injured persons who, after returning home following the disaster, complained of pain and received outpatient treatment. It is expected that injured persons who visited hospitals as outpatients due to the Itaewon disaster, even if not on the day of the accident, will also receive government support.

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