Foreigner leaps to death from new overpass park in Seoul
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A man from Kazakhstan jumped to his death off a new flyover-turned-park in central Seoul on Monday evening. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Lee Han-soo, Park Si-soo
A man from Kazakhstan jumped to his death off a new flyover-turned-park in central Seoul on Monday evening, police said Tuesday.
The incident came only 10 days after the elevated urban walkway, named Seoullo 7017, opened on May 20. The death leap has raised calls for Seoul City, which is responsible for the park, to introduce measures to prevent such incidents.
The elevated walkway stretches over a 10-lane thoroughfare and railroads, which means anything falling could cause a deadly traffic accident.
The Kazakhstani, whose identity remains unknown, climbed the 1.4-meter safety fence and jumped at 11:50 p.m. Monday, according to Namdaemun Police Station. People had tried to stop him. The man, who suffered head injuries, was rushed to hospital, but pronounced dead at 7:50 a.m.
Seoul City set up a task force to introduce measures to prevent other such incidents.
“We believed that there would be no safety problem because the fence is higher than regulations require,” a Seoul City official told The Korea Times. “But the incident shows it is not high enough. We will come up with ways to make the facility safer.”