ED 4 years on, lessons still unlearned

Wounds remain fresh even four years after the deadly crowd crush in central Seoul’s multicultural Itaewon neighborhood. The tragedy claimed the lives of 159 people, mostly young Koreans and including over 25 foreign nationals, who had gathered in a sloped, narrow alley near Hamilton Hotel to celebrate Halloween on Oct. 29, 2022. Nearly 200 others were injured. The festive atmosphere suddenly gave way to collective grief.

The tragedy became a watershed moment in the debate over the role of government in public safety. Police received 11 calls warning of the potential danger of surging crowds before the incident, but the warnings went unheeded.

Where was the state when people were dying?

The Itaewon crowd crush triggered a paradigm shift in how safety is understood. Before the tragedy, safety was often treated as an issue to be addressed through relief and recovery after an accident. In its aftermath, safety has increasingly come to be recognized as a fundamental right, one that entitles people to demand proactive government action to protect the public from preventable disasters.

The Framework Act on Life and Safety, which is scheduled to take effect on Dec. 3, is a tangible outcome of this shift. It recognizes safety as a fundamental right and requires central and local governments to take proactive measures to protect that right, while holding them accountable for failures to prevent disasters. The legislation signals the government's changing role, from a largely passive responder to an active guardian of public safety.

Although this is a positive development, legislation alone cannot eliminate all safety threats. Individuals, too, have responsibilities to fulfill. Citizens should remain attentive to their own safety and that of those around them. Public education on safety is therefore essential.

President Lee Jae Myung said public safety is the government's foremost priority, emphasizing that protecting the public is a fundamental reason for the government's existence. Yet, as demonstrated by a series of disasters, including the 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry and the Itaewon crowd crush, Korea still has a long way to go to become a safer society, he said.

National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik echoed Lee's remarks. At a meeting with bereaved families of the Itaewon victims on Tuesday, Cho described the crowd crush as a social disaster that happened largely because the government failed to do its job properly. He said the authorities had failed both to prevent the disaster and to provide adequate support in its aftermath.

“Although four years have passed since the tragedy, the truth is still buried,” he said, pledging efforts by the National Assembly to uncover it.

Korea has repeatedly failed to learn sufficient lessons from past disasters. In April 2014, the Sewol ferry, carrying more than 300 people, most of them high school students on a school trip to Jeju Island, sank off the coast near Jindo, an island of South Jeolla Province. The disaster claimed 299 lives, while five people remain missing. In June 2024, a catastrophic fire broke out at a lithium battery manufacturing plant operated by Aricell in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, killing 23 people. The recurrence of deadly incidents underscored the persistence of serious safety failures despite the lessons that should have been learned from earlier tragedies.

These tragedies continue to raise serious questions about systemic failures in safety management. Recognizing safety as a fundamental right is an important step forward, but the law itself cannot guarantee that people will be protected. Sustained efforts are needed to translate that principle into effective prevention and accountability.

There are obstacles to such efforts. Politicians have sought to exploit tragedies for political gain, blaming their opponents for allowing disasters to happen. Such blame games do little to prevent future tragedies. The politicization of disasters is another barrier to finding constructive solutions. Rather than wasting time and energy exploiting tragedies or shifting blame, conservatives and liberals should work together to strengthen safety measures and build a safer society.

The Itaewon crowd crush was an unspeakable tragedy. The victims' families continue to grieve their devastating losses, and no words can heal their wounded hearts. Korea must ensure that such a tragedy never happens again. May the victims rest in peace.