Itaewon tragedy marks 200th day

Bereaved families of the Itaewon crowd crush disaster gather in Seoul Plaza, central Seoul, on Tuesday to commemorate the 200th day of the tragedy. (Yonhap)

The bereaved families of the Itaewon disaster in October last year marked the 200th day of the tragedy on Tuesday, holding a rally at the memorial in front of Seoul City Hall.

Despite the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s request to the bereaved families to voluntarily remove the memorial altar, they have refused to comply, demanding the truth about the deadly incident.

The mother of the late actor Lee Ji-han, who died at the age of 24 on the night of the Halloween festival, said she would fight until the very end to know what happened to her son.

“I will fight for the truth until I find out exactly what happened on that day. That is what a parent should do,” she said.

Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood became the site of a deadly disaster on the eve of Oct. 30, as people crammed into a narrow, sloping alley, which led to a fatal crowd crush that took the lives of 159 people.

By Park Jun-hee(junheee@heraldcorp.com)