Tag: Halloween

That is a question the Korea Times was asking people recently in Itaewon:

Nearly two years have passed since a deadly crowd disaster during Halloween weekend shocked the world on Oct. 29, 2022. That traumatic event led to 159 deaths and left permanent scars in central Seoul’s multicultural Itaewon area. As Halloween 2024 approaches, many are questioning whether the neighborhood will see a return to what was once one of the most vibrant and profitable weekends for local businesses.

Yet business owners and event organizers in the area said they are not yet prepared to resume Halloween celebrations as they did in the past.

“I think Halloween is naturally going to be slightly toned down for a while, particularly in Itaewon,” Ali Zahoor, co-organizer of Seoul Drag Parade, said.

“Seoul Drag Parade has a couple of Halloween-themed shows planned,” Heezy Yang, another co-organizer, added. “But we tried to choose dates and locations for them cautiously and respectfully, considering what happened in Itaewon.” (…………..)

“It hasn’t been discussed yet because we’re still a while away,” he added, “but I imagine everybody is sort of waiting to see what everyone else does, and talk to the other bar owners — ‘What are you planning on doing?'”

Last year, there was a widespread fear among foreign residents of Korea, as well as Itaewon business owners and anyone else who enjoys Halloween, about being singled out and made out to seem insensitive over Halloween.

Once again, Walsh acknowledged this fear is still a concern this year.

“Nobody wants to be in the media at the club,” he said. “We know that the wounds are still sore with the families, and I’m sure the media are gonna be looking for somebody that’s sticking out. And as a foreigner, I don’t want to be sticking out. Even the Koreans don’t want to stick out either.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the mayors of the major Tokyo neighborhoods of Shinjuku and Shibuya are trying to prevent crowd crush like incidents from happening like what happened in Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood:

Leaders of this city’s most popular nightlife districts held a news conference Monday and called on revelers to stay away during Halloween. Shinjuku Mayor Kenichi Yoshizumi said his ward saw an increase of about 3,000 visitors during Halloween last year after Shibuya strongly discouraged street parties and banned public drinking.

Shibuya became a popular place to spend Halloween night in the early 2000s. In recent years, many costumed revelers and those who come to see them have crowded the iconic Shibuya Scramble intersection and narrow streets around Shibuya Station.

So many people were drinking and littering last year in Kabukicho, a popular redlight district in Shinjuku, that ward officials were collecting garbage strewn everywhere the next morning. “To leave garbage behind after drinking and eating is not what an educated and rational person would do,” Yoshizumi said during a joint news conference with Shibuya Mayor Ken Hasebe at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here is the DP once again demagoging a tragic accident to score political points. There was clearly poor planning at the local level that contributed to this tragedy, however the opposition makes it seem like President Yoon should of been out there leading crowd control that tragic night:

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, delivers a speech at Seoul Plaza in the capital city during a memorial event to mark the first anniversary of the deadly Itaewon crowd crush that killed 159 people during Halloween celebrations last year, in this photo taken on Sunday. (Yonhap)

The main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung vowed Sunday to get to the truth about the deadly Itaewon crowd crush and work to hold those accountable to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.

Lee made the pledge during a memorial event held to mark the first anniversary of the deadly crowd crush that took the lives of 159 people during Halloween celebrations in the popular hangout district of Itaewon.

“It has been one year since 159 universes, and 159 worlds collapsed, but nothing has changed. The desperate appeals by the bereaved families are again ignored today, and those in power are only bent on covering up the truth,” Lee said in a speech at Seoul Plaza.

“We will reveal the truth by quickly passing special legislation on the Itaewon tragedy, hold those responsible accountable and make sure something like this won’t happen again,” Lee said.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Tonight in Itaewon: I've seen less than 10 costumes. From the subway all the way to the streets above are crowd control, police, fire services.

Unlike last year. That night, when the state did not protect them.

They did nothing wrong that night; it was not an accident. pic.twitter.com/LZjUXeGMOO

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) October 28, 2023

It makes sense that people would not be in a festive mood only one year after the deadly Itaewon crowd crushing tragedy:

This photo, taken Oct. 28, 2023, shows safety fences set up in an alley of Seoul’s Itaewon to prevent a possible increase in people ahead of Halloween. (Yonhap)

 South Koreans avoided boisterous Halloween celebrations Saturday, the eve of the country marking one year after the deadly crowd crush in Seoul’s Itaewon district that claimed 159 lives, with people mourning the death of the victims.

The crowd crush, the deadliest ever in South Korea, took place in the nightlife district of Itaewon on Oct. 29, 2022, a Saturday night when about 100,000 people flocked to the area for Halloween celebrations.

Late Saturday, Seoul’s crowded entertainment areas, including Itaewon and Hongdae, were bustling with citizens and foreign tourists, just like any ordinary weekend, but there seemed to be no uproarious Halloween celebrations.

“I used to enjoy Halloween parties, but I’ve decided to spend this year’s Halloween quietly due to last year’s accident. I think it would be difficult to enjoy Halloween in Itaewon,” said Kim Hyung-seok, 28, who visited Itaewon with his girlfriend.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like Halloween will not be cancelled in Seoul due to last year’s Itaewon crushing tragedy. Instead they will just deploy more police for crowd control:

People pass by an alley that was the site of a deadly crowd crush in central Seoul’s Itaewon, Sunday. The tragic event claimed at least 158 lives, including 26 foreign nationals from 14 countries, during Halloween celebrations on Oct. 29, 2022. Yonhap

Police will deploy over 1,000 personnel for crowd control in Itaewon and 15 other areas in Seoul that expect to attract a large number of people celebrating the Halloween weekend, a year after the deadly Itaewon crowd crush that claimed at least 158 lives.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) announced during a regular press briefing, Monday, a set of enhanced crowd control and security measures for 16 areas of the capital that are anticipated to see huge crowds from Friday to next Tuesday.

“The agency selected high-risk alleys after holding several meetings and conducting field studies with local governments,” a police official said, explaining that the agency expects people to flock to Mapo and Gangnam districts instead of Itaewon and its neighboring area in Yongsan District this year.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I recently found myself in Itaewon and decided to walk by where the Itaewon crushing disaster happened. As I walked in to Itaewon I could quickly see how this tragedy has become fully politicized with the Korean left trying to weaponize it like they did the Sewol tragedy against former President Park Geun-hye. Near Noksopyeong Station which is located at the entrance to Itaewon, there is a protest tent set up with a bunch of signs denouncing the government. I did not walk over to their tent or try to take pictures of them because I was getting the evil eye from the angry looking activists standing by the sidewalk. I just continued to walk by them to towards the Hamilton Hotel.

I could not approach the alley from the front of the Hamilton Hotel because there was a protest going on with the riot police out in force. So I walked up a nearby alley to the World Food Street that is the road that runs behind the Hamilton Hotel. This street is lined with restaurants and bars that would have been packed on Halloween night:

From the main road that runs through Itaewon there are multiple alleys, some even smaller than the one the tragedy occurred at that accesses World Food Street. Here is an example of one of these small alleys:

Seeing the area in person it is easy to conclude that what caused the crushing tragedy to happen where it did is its proximity to Itaewon Station. There are two paths along each side of the Hamilton Hotel which is the quickest way to access World Food Street from Itaewon Station. The alley where the tragedy happened was the smallest of the two and the closest to the station. It is easy to imagine how people walking up and down this alley due to its easy access to the subway station caused it to become overcrowded. Below is a picture I took from the top of the alleyway where the tragedy occurred:

The police would not allow me to walk down the alley, but I wouldn’t have tried to anyway due to the protest going on at the entrance to the alley. Seeing the alley in person it looks actually smaller than it does in photographs. From the top of the alleyway I could see how slopped it is. Witnesses the night of the tragedy reported a group of people began pushing people down the alley. It was easy for me to imagine a group of drunks trying to walk down World Food Street getting frustrated by being backed up by the crowd moving through the alleyway and deciding to aggressively push by them causing people to fall. The slope of the alleyway is enough to cause a domino effect of people falling on top of each other if people on the top lose their balance.

What amazes me the most about this tragedy is that the police received reports of overcrowding near the Hamilton Hotel four hours before the tragedy happened. There is literally a police station across the street from the Hamilton Hotel:

Why didn’t anyone from the police station walk across the street and respond to the reports? What were they doing during those four hours? Did the 119 operators even call to let them know? Did anyone walk in to the station and tell the police what was going on? If someone did what was the response of the police? These are questions that should be simple to get answers to.

Being on the ground and looking at the site only further validated to me how easily avoidable this entire tragedy was. Police responding to the alleyway and controlling pedestrian traffic to make it one way probably would have prevented the disaster. Just closing Itaewon Station and making people walk from subway stations further away from the center of Itaewon would have dispersed the crowds enough from this narrow alleyway that this tragedy would have been prevented as well. Hopefully some lessons are learned in regards to crowd control planning by local authorities, it is just unfortunate it cost the lives of 158 people to learn this lesson.

There has to be plenty of survivor guilt for the people that survived the Itaewon crowd crush disaster especially those that lost friends like this teenager did:

A teenage survivor of the Itaewon tragedy, who lost two friends in the crowd crush that took 158 lives on Oct. 29, died in an apparent suicide while receiving psychological treatment for trauma.  
   
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, police found a dead high school student in a motel room in Mapo District, western Seoul at 11:40 p.m. on Monday, after half an hour of searching for the teen following a missing persons report by his mother.  
   
The student checked in alone at around 7 p.m. Monday and committed suicide in the bathroom, according to local news reports. No suicide note was found. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but condolences to friends and family of the deceased.

Not a good look for the PPP:

High-profile politicians from the ruling party and the presidential office are under heavy fire after speaking ill of the bereaved families who lost their loved ones in the Oct. 29 crowd disaster in Itaewon, accusing them of venting their anger at the government. Lawmakers and observers chastised the ruling party politicians for their lack of sympathy and political attacks on the family members who started a civic group to call for a full government investigation and an apology from the president.

The most-criticized remark came from Kim Seong-hoi, former presidential secretary for religious and multicultural affairs in the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. He criticized the bereaved families for demanding the government take responsibility for poorly managing the crowd on Halloween weekend and for failing to communicate properly with the victims’ families. 

“Why do you people blame the government for the whole thing when it was your responsibility to keep your grown-up children from going (there)?” Kim wrote on Facebook, Sunday. “Have your children been conscripted by the state from birth? Since when did the president of the free Republic of Korea become the ‘supreme paternal leader’ (who must take care of all members of the public)?” 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link with other ruling party politicians making comments critical of the victim’s families. I can understand their frustration with political activists trying to nationalize what was a tragedy caused by whoever started pushing people in the crowd and the lack of crowd control by the local police. With that said the ruling party needs to keep their comments to themselves because it just further gives fodder to politicize this tragedy by their critics.