Internet media outlets face backlash after disclosing names of Itaewon tragedy victims

Seoul Metropolitan Council member Lee Jong-bae holds a sign during a news conference in front of Seoul Metropolitan Police, Tuesday. He filed a complaint with the police, requesting them to investigate two media outlets that disclosed the names of Itaewon tragedy victims without consent from their families. Yonhap

Unidentified embassy in Seoul protests media over disclosure of victims' names

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Two online media outlets have triggered a controversy on Tuesday after releasing the list of deceased victims of the crowd crush disaster in Itaewon on Oct. 29, without the consent of their families.

Under Korean law, it is illegal to disclose people's personal information, including their names, without prior consent from them or their families ― in the cases in which the people concerned are minors or dead ― and the disclosers can be liable for compensating the victims financially.

On Tuesday, the issue went global.

One unidentified foreign embassy in Seoul reportedly lodged a complaint against the two media outlets for disclosing the names of victims who were citizens of its country. It remains unknown which embassy this is.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told reporters on Tuesday that he had learned that the embassy had delivered the complaint directly to the media outlet and requested a correction, adding that he was not aware of any further details.

The crowd crush killed at least 158 people who gathered in Itaewon to celebrate Halloween on Oct. 29. At least twenty-six of the victims are foreign nationals from 15 countries. Among them, the foreign ministry said the families of 25 of the victims didn't want their names disclosed and eight of them didn't even want their nationalities revealed.

The foreign ministry said that it was possible that other embassies could also make complaints.

People visit the Itaewon alley where the crowd crush disaster happened, Monday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

The reaction came a day after two internet-based media outlets, Citizen Press Dandelion and Citizen Press The Investigation, uploaded the names of 155 of the victims to their websites on Monday. The two outlets' lists did not reflect the latest updates about additional victims who died while in hospital.

Explaining its motive behind the disclosure, Citizen Press Dandelion said politicians and conservative media try to keep the victims' identities anonymous, claiming they fear the fallout of the Itaewon tragedy on their careers. They alleged that keeping the victims unnamed is enabling the politicization and political engineering of the tragedy.

"We hope that what we did can spark a series of follow-up measures, such as erecting a monument for the victims or other memorial services," it wrote on its website.

Progressive Catholic priests joined the left-wing news websites' campaign to remember the Itaewon tragedy victims.

The Catholic Priests' Association for Justice (CPAJ) held a memorial Mass on Monday in front of the Finance Center building in central Seoul.

During the outdoor memorial service, Father Kim Young-shik, CPAJ president, read out the names of the 158 victims one by one in alphabetical order.

He urged the government to beef up safety measures so that no one will ever be victimized again in an incident like the Itaewon crowd crush. He also called on the media to fulfill their role as watchdogs. "The press is supposed to dig up what went wrong and track down those who are ultimately responsible for the disaster," he said while presiding over the Mass.

These figures from the left and online media outlets drew a backlash from some of the victims' families. Jung In-sung, 62, the grandfather of a 17-year-old victim, revealed his discomfort with the disclosure of the victims' names in a media interview. "We have demanded from the government a sincere apology and a fact-finding mission. Unveiling the names of the victims is not what we wanted because it traumatizes us by reminding us of the tragic incident," he said.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, left, expresses deep regret over the internet media's unveiling of the names of Itaewon victims during a meeting at the Central Diseases and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap

The disclosure of the victims' names has triggered a barrage of criticism, partly because it could lead to secondary harm.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo expressed "deep regret" that the internet media outlets "didn't even check the basics" before releasing their names. He said that asking the families of the victims whether they consent or not to the victims' names being released is a basic procedure that the media outlets were supposed to follow but skipped.

Right-wing politicians blasted the online media outlets, claiming that left-leaning politicians are flexing their muscles behind their disclosure of the victims' names.

Rep. Chung Jin-suk, interim leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), claimed that the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is behind the disclosure.

"They (referring to the DPK) are using the tragedy to protect their embattled leader, Lee Jae-myung, who is embroiled in various corruption scandals," he wrote on social media.

The ruling party leader accused the DPK members of trying to divert the public's attention to the Itaewon tragedy from the prosecution's investigations into several political corruption scandals involving the DPK leader.

"Their unilateral disclosure of the victims' names without the consent of their families makes me angry, because I'm afraid what they did will lead to secondary harm of the grieving families," Chung said.

Former lawmaker Yoo Seong-min also chastised those who disclosed the victims' names. "They will face the legal consequences of their action. They are ethically flawed, too," he wrote on Facebook.

Meanwhile, the DPK has remained silent about the issue. Earlier, some of the main opposition party lawmakers had called on the government to make the victims' names public so as to properly memorialize them and so that their family members could contact each other. But others were wary of doing so without the families' consent because of potential legal consequences.

The Personal Information Protection Commission said it would investigate the case if any family members of the victims file complaints about the process.

Under current law, those who disclose other people's personal information against their will are liable for punishment.

In 2015, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that ordered former lawmaker Jo Jeon-hyuk to pay 1.6 billion won in financial compensation to teachers affiliated with the progressive Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU). The ruling came four years after Jo had disclosed the names of all KTU members on his website.

The court confirmed that disclosing others' personal information without their consent is against the law.