Police and Local Governments Unite to Prepare for Year-End Crowd Accidents... Riot Police Autonomous Operation on Trial

Meeting on Crowd Response by Local Governments Including Jung-gu and Gwangjin-gu, Seoul
Increased Autonomous Operation Frequency of Year-End Task Forces

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] The police and local governments are putting all their efforts into managing "large crowds" in the wake of the Itaewon tragedy. The aim is to prevent accidents by intensively managing areas where large crowds gather during the year-end and New Year holidays.

According to a comprehensive report from Asia Economy on the 2nd, the police and local governments have held safety-related meetings and begun preparing countermeasures. A police official said, “We expect young people to gather mainly around clubs and entertainment venues in areas such as Gangnam, Hongdae, and Itaewon in Seoul, so we are reviewing related response plans. Especially from two weeks later, year-end gatherings will increase, and with Christmas week approaching, we are on high alert.” The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency stated that it will issue relevant guidelines according to the year-end situation.

The National Police Agency also held the 3rd meeting of the Police University Innovation TF the day before and decided to establish specific measures to immediately strengthen cooperation among related organizations such as local governments and fire departments when situations involving large gatherings at local festivals and events occur. For large gatherings with unclear organizers, safety activities will be conducted as if there is an organizer. Additionally, when establishing a prior safety management plan, a risk assessment including the event location, time, participants, and movement routes will be conducted before deploying police officers.

Local governments have also been holding safety-related meetings one after another and have begun managing concentrated crowds during the year-end period. Jung-gu in Seoul held a joint meeting with Jungbu Police Station, Jungbu Fire Station, and Seoul Metro on the 28th of last month to discuss accident prevention measures. Gwangjin-gu in Seoul will conduct joint field inspections involving civilians, police, and government officials focusing on Hwayang-dong and Jayang-dong, where crowds are expected to gather during the year-end and New Year holidays.

During the Itaewon tragedy, the police did not take significant action despite receiving numerous 112 emergency calls. Even at 6:34 p.m. on October 29, four hours before the tragedy occurred, related reports were received, but due to negligence in management and delayed reporting by the command, the damage worsened. As public criticism of the police grows, internally there is a tense atmosphere with discussions that “it would be a big problem if the same accident happens again.”

There are also forecasts that the upcoming year-end and New Year period will be a testing ground for the operation of mobile units. The National Police Agency previously allowed city and provincial police 112 situation rooms to independently operate on-duty mobile units. A police official said, “Although mobile units were operated during the recent railway union general strike, the frequency of actual use is expected to increase even more during the year-end and New Year period.”

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