Govt fines journalists who revealed names of Itaewon tragedy victims

Bereaved relatives of the victims of the Itaewon crowd crush react in front of the Seoul Western District Court in Mapo-gu, Seoul on Sept. 30 after Park Hee-young, former head of Yongsan-gu Office, was cleared of criminal charges. (Yonhap)

A government report showed Sunday that a local group of citizen-journalists has been fined in connection with its decision to publish the names of those who lost their lives in the October 2022 crowd crush in Itaewon without getting consent from the victims' bereaved families.

Mindle News, an independent media outlet founded in 2022, was fined 3 million won ($2,200) in late July by the Personal Information Protection Commission for violating the Personal Information Act, according to PIPC data submitted to Rep. Yang Bu-nam of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea.

In November of 2022, the left-leaning group revealed the names of 155 people who died in the incident, which left 159 dead, including a teen who survived the crowd crush but later committed suicide due to the trauma of losing a friend in the disaster.

It was later revealed that Mindle News was asked by the relatives of some of the victims to take down the list, but in response, the group asked the relatives to submit identification to prove their relation to the victims. The complaints led to some of the names being taken off the list, and the group was confirmed to have deleted the personal information they collected during the verification process.

The commission said, however, that under the law on collecting personal information, the group did not have grounds to collect the personal IDs, which include the 13-digit resident registration number.

Officials from Mindle said that while they could not "wholeheartedly agree with the decision," it would be difficult to challenge the ruling.

The group's controversial decision to publish the list sparked criticism from the bereaved families for disregarding their intent. One person who lost their nephew in the tragedy said Mindle did not answer the phone when they tried to contact the group about the list, while sending an email to Mindle officials required signing up for the group's website.

Some accused the group, which is closely tied to former health minister Ryu Si-min and the liberal bloc, of attempting to exploit the tragedy politically in order to attack conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The Itaewon tragedy left 159 dead and 195 injured, and was the deadliest disaster in South Korea since the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014. It occurred as thousands of people celebrating Halloween in an area popular for its nightlife fell on top of each other in a narrow alley.

The bereaved families of the victims have been calling for public officials to be punished for not taking appropriate measures to prevent such a disaster, and for allegedly providing falsified documents and testimony related to their actions in the aftermath of the incident. The prosecution recently appealed a court ruling involving high-ranking officials related to the tragedy, including former head of Seoul Yongsan Police Station Lee Im-jae and former Yongsan-gu Office chief Park Hee-young.

Lee was sentenced to three years in prison, and Park was found not guilty.

By Yoon Min-sik(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)