Makeshift Itaewon memorial to be maintained after national mourning period ends

Mourning altars set up by the government or local government offices for the Itaewon tragedy that claimed the lives of over 150 people closed as the national mourning period ended on Saturday ...

A visitor pays respect to the victims of the Itaewon tragedy at a makeshift memorial near Exit 1 of Itaewon Station on Sunday afternoon. [YONHAP]

Mourning altars set up by the government or local government offices for the Itaewon tragedy that claimed the lives of over 150 people closed as the national mourning period ended on Saturday, but makeshift memorials nearby at Itaewon Staton’s Exit 1 are likely to be maintained for a while.

Yongsan District Office, however, decided to extend the duration of its mourning altars near Noksapyeong Station in Yongsan District, central Seoul, to Nov. 12.

“I came to the mourning altar in Yongsan District with my family because I heard it is still here,” said a 41-year-old man who visited the mourning altar with his wife and daughter on Sunday.

Police were still restricting access to the alleys around the incident site, but the roads in front of the site were filled with white chrysanthemums and gifts brought by visitors.

“I came to promise that I will remember the victims before going to work,” a 27-year-old visitor said Sunday.

A volunteer at the site said that the space will likely be maintained, as the space was voluntarily made and many people are still visiting the makeshift memorials.

A few other local government offices are also extending the dates for their mourning altars. The Gyeonggi provincial office and the Suwon City Hall will keep the mourning altars for the victims of the Itaewon tragedy open until Nov. 9. A total of 38 Gyeonggi residents died in the tragedy.

“The province’s loss was big, and there are still many people who were not able to pay their respects yet, so this is the least we could do,” said a spokesperson for the Gyeonggi provincial government.

The lost-and-found center of the victims’ belongings set up in a gymnasium in Yongsan District was also originally planned to be opened only until Sunday but was extended to Nov. 13.

The police restrict access to the International Food Street in Itaewon, central Seoul, on Sunday afternoon. [YONHAP]

Meanwhile, stores nearby the incident site are slowly opening back up as the national mourning period ended on Saturday.

“I’m opening the store a week after the incident took place,” said the owner of an apparel store about 20 meters (22 yards) away from the incident site.

“We were all heartbroken and felt uneasy from the recent tragedy.”

When asked an owner of a bag store about the financial losses due to the closing of stores, the owner stressed that “damages are not what should be discussed for the time being” and that “businesses in Itaewon has been seeing losses already due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Itaewon on Sunday was far from what Itaewon would normally look like on the weekend.

“Compared to the amount of people that come to the area on the weekends, the number of people is less than one-tenth of usual,” said a cafe owner near Quy Nhon Street in Itaewon.

The International Food Street right at the back of the alley where the incident took place was nearly empty on the same day.

The Itaewon tragedy claimed 156 lives on the night of Oct. 29, including 26 foreigners, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, as of Monday morning.

BY KIM NAM-YOUNG, CHOI MO-RAN [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]