Narrow alleyways of Itaewon trap Halloween crowds

An official report on the cause of Saturday’s stampede has yet to be made, but one thing is clear: The narrow streets of central Seoul’s Itaewon could hardly accommodate the thousands of people that took to the streets to celebrate Halloween...

The 4-meter (13-foot) wide alley, as narrow as 3.2 meters in some parts, of central Seoul’s Itaewon where many of the 153 people lost their lives [YONHAP]

An official report on the cause of Saturday’s stampede has yet to be made, but one thing is clear: The narrow streets of central Seoul’s Itaewon could hardly accommodate the thousands of people that took to the streets to celebrate Halloween.

The slender slope where many of the 153 people lost their lives is located behind the landmark Hamilton Hotel, leading up to the main streets of Itaewon and down to Exit 1 of the Itaewon subway station. The 4-meter (13-foot) wide alley, as narrow as 3.2 meters in some parts, is small enough to fit only four or five adults standing shoulder to shoulder, under normal circumstances.

But on day of the tragedy, the alleyway, only 45 meters long, was tightly packed with people trying get both in and out of the crowd, resulting in a jam of people pushing from all directions.

With one side of the slope a continuous brick wall, pedestrians would have had nowhere to escape the crowd.

All deaths are estimated to have come from a short 5.7-meter section in the alleyway, where around 300 individuals were trapped in a domino of fallen people, according to a report from on-site officials.

Pedestrians kept to their right in an orderly manner at first, according to testimonies. But survivors recall that chaos took over “in an instant.”

Streets of Itaewon, central Seoul, are kept off-limits by police on Sunday afternoon after a stampede took lives of at least 153 people on Saturday night. [YONHAP]

Over 100,000 people swarmed to Itaewon Saturday, not because of some huge festival, but rather because the neighborhood is known as the go-to place in Korea for Halloween festivities, as the storied nightlife spot and a hub of multiculturalism.

Itaewon, despite being located right in the center of Seoul, for years has cultivated a reputation for being somehow culturally separate, nurturing a more open-minded image with a large foreign population and restaurants and bars catering to people from all around the world.

“Itaewon is still a great place to go, especially if you feel homesick," said Maddy, a 26-year-old American student that has lived in Korea since 2019.

"It is nice to be able to speak and order in English. A lot of Korean-Americans and foreigners know exactly what people are homesick for, so it is nice to be able to go to a cafe or a restaurant and get real western food. The more I live in Korea, the more I go to Itaewon.”

The modern history of Itaewon and the development of the neighborhood began after the Korean War (1950-53). Up until then, the occupying Japanese forces during the colonial period (1910-45) and later the U.S. Armed Forces Command were based right next to Itaewon.

It was not until the 1960s that housing complexes were built and the American population grew in the area.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Itaewon developed into a strong and attractive commercial area due to its saloons, bars and a lively nightlife catering to the needs of the Americans in the area, but crime levels were also extremely high and the neighborhood was known for its high concentration of prostitutes. It was in 1973 that the famous Hamilton Hotel opened in the center of Itaewon in order to make the area more attractive to tourists, along with the first jazz club in Korea, All that Jazz.

The 4-meter (13-foot) wide alley, as narrow as 3.2 meters in some parts, of central Seoul’s Itaewon where many of the 153 people lost their lives [YONHAP]

The 1988 Olympics and the end of the Cold War marked the beginning of Itaewon's globalization.

Newspapers at that time started to call Itaewon “a foreign country within Seoul," according to Seoul Shinmun in 1997. This made Itaewon more attractive to tourists, which in turn encouraged locals to make it a more attractive introductory point to Korea.

The Itaewon Merchants' Association, together with the national and city governments, pushed to develop Itaewon into a commercial and multicultural area, rather than a place solely targeting the U.S. forces.

Since the 2000s, the international population has become more diverse with the arrival of workers from the Middle East and Africa. New cultural events are organized regularly, such as the World Food Festival, first introduced in 2002 during the World Cup.

The government on Sunday designated Yongsan District, where Itaewon is located, as a "special disaster area" and said it will provide subsidies to those who have been injured and to the families of people killed in the tragedy.

As of Sunday 4:30 p.m., 153 deaths were confirmed by the National Fire Agency, of which 20 were foreigners.

BY YOON SO-YEON, STUDENT REPORTER BENJAMIN DEVISE [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]