Under Public Pressure, Interior Ministry Belatedly Creates TF to Support Families of Itaewon Victims

On November 27, nearly a month since the Itaewon crowd crush, citizens remember the victims in a memorial space set up at the site of the crowd crush in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Seong Dong-hun

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will create a task force (TF) to support the bereaved families of the Itaewon Halloween crowd crush victims. The government belatedly established the task force after coming under fire for its lack of support in gathering the victims’ families.

Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min made an opening comment at a briefing of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters at the government office in Seoul on the morning of November 30 and said, “The government intends to oversee the matter more carefully, so there is no lack in support and care for the bereaved families,” and explained, “We will install a team overseeing support for the establishment of a council of victims’ families and for the memorial project inside the interior ministry, and cooperate with relevant ministries to quickly handle requests from the families organization.”

According to the interior ministry, the task force, which will begin operation Wednesday, will be called the Interior Ministry Support Group for the Itaewon Disaster. The group will consist of three teams (11 government employees). The interior ministry said that the support group will help establish a body representing the victims’ families and review requests from the families. The group will also handle matters concerning the installment of a memorial facility and other ways to remember the victims. The ministry did not set an end date for the operation of the support group.

More than a month passed since the tragic incident in Itaewon, and the government came under fire for doing nothing to help form a body representing the victims’ families. In the case of the Itaewon incident, the victims’ families reside in various regions, so they are facing challenges in collecting their opinions.

On November 22, the families held a press conference at the Lawyers for a Democratic Society office in Seocho-gu, Seoul and asked the government to guarantee the participation of the victims’ families in the process of identifying the truth and punishing those responsible and to state a position on and prepare specific measures to prevent secondary victimization.

During the press conference, Yi Jong-gwan, the father of the late Yi Min-a, who died in the Itaewon crowd crush, said, “We barely managed to meet a few other victims’ families after making inquiries seventeen days after the incident,” and continued, “More than 24 days have passed since the disaster occurred. Why hasn’t the government provided a space for us to talk?” He also said, “There was no basic action from the government, such as informing us of how the situation was being handled or of the rights of the victim, after the incident.”

The government also stirred controversy for its response, which seemed to press the victims’ families. The one-stop support center for the Itaewon disaster, run by the government, conducted a survey of victims’ families on forming an official group of the bereaved families and on providing a location for the families to gather. In the process, the center sent a text-message that said, “If there is no answer by 6 p.m. November 24, we will assume you have no opinion to submit.”

Lawyers for a Democratic Society criticized that the government was being disrespectful, setting a deadline on a matter that required time for a decision. The government later said, “We confirmed that a frontline civil servant of a local government used somewhat inappropriate expressions when sending the text message to seek the opinions of the victims’ families,” and added, “We will prevent such incidents from happening again by strengthening communication with the civil servants in charge.”

On November 28, the families of the Itaewon victims announced that they formed a group for the establishment of a council of the October 29 Itaewon disaster victims’ families (provisional name). So far, 67 family members have joined the group. The Itaewon victims’ families explained, “We are trying to create a council which the victims’ families can join any time,” and said, “We want to accurately convey the voices of the bereaved families, uncover the truth concerning the unjust death of the victims, and rightfully hold the people with responsibility accountable.”