After a year of mourning for the victims of last year's deadly Halloween crowd crush in Seoul, Itaewon, the parents still have not received any official apology and accountability for their children's deaths.
The crowd crush killed 159 people, and the parents were still seeking justice as officials ignored their requests to hold them responsible and accountable.
South Korea's Deadly Halloween Crowd Crush
After the incident, victims' families accused the authorities of shifting the blame to their children being under the influence of drugs during the incident.
The parents said the officials ignored their requests and failed to investigate independently to establish responsibility and accountability. The police identified the crowd crush as a "man-made disaster" due to a lack of preventive measures, including crowd control and delayed response from the authorities.
According to The Guardian, the raids came a day after the agency recognized Seoul police failed to act for hours despite receiving at least 11 emergency calls from pedestrians. The calls were to notify the authorities about the swelling crowd of Halloween celebrants ahead of the crush on Saturday in a narrow alley near Hamilton Hotel.
The families have not received an official apology, and their request to talk to President Yoon Suk Yeol was not acknowledged.
However, Kim Gi-hyeon, the head of South Korea's ruling People Power Party, argued that North Korea set up candlelit burials, memorial services, and demands for accountability.
"Why did the state do an investigation amongst themselves, those who are at fault?" Kim Hee-Jung said the mother of Choi Min-seok, who died in the crowd.
Lee Jeong-min, the father of Lee Joo-young, who also died that night, also stated that they all wanted to know how and why their children died.
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Parents Recall Tragic Crowd Crush
Kim Hee-Jung said she was still not ready to send her son to his memorial hall. She said that even though they were still alive, it felt like they were lifeless, like her child.
The tragic night is still vivid in the memory of Kim Hee-Jung as she recalls receiving a heartbreaking call from her son's phone, with an unfamiliar voice notifying her that her son was receiving CPR and telling her to rush to Itaewon. She went to look for her son in Itaewon and found his son's body in a mortuary for homeless people.
Lee Jeong-min, the father of another victim, shared that he rushed to the scene after receiving a call from his daughter's fiance, saying that his daughter had lost consciousness.
He said the night was pure chaos, and emergency vehicles had no smooth passage. He added that many victims needed immediate medical treatment, but authorities failed to fulfill this crucial role.
On Wednesday, Interior Minister Lee Sang-min said he feels sorry and has an infinite sense of responsibility, but there has been no official apology.
