On November 22, a press conference was held with the bereaving families of the Itaewon tragedy victims at the conference room of the Lawyers for a Democratic Society meeting in Seocho-do, Seocho-gu, Seoul.
On this day, the organizers of the press conference informed reporters that it is not necessary to cover the faces of the bereaved families or the photos of the victims.
The families attended the press conference with photos of the victims and shed tears. The families explained, "It is the fault of the incompetent government and adults," calling for an official apology from South Korean President Yoon Seok Yeol and to find out the truth to punish those who are responsible for this tragedy.
The Lawyers for Democratic Society met with the victims' families and prepared this press conference to officially reveal the feelings and demands of the bereaved families.
The parents of the young victims shared their position in tears. One mother cried out, "My son, who was such a filial child, is not with me. Please punish those who are responsible but are passing on the responsibility to others," and demanded that President Yoon find those who were responsible and were unable to stop the tragedy.
Another parent shared their frustrations, saying, "My son came to learn about his Korean heritage and came to study at Yonsei University Korean Language Institute. It is frustrating that those who are leading the country are not admitting their wrongdoings and not taking responsibility."
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To people saying 'how could anyone take responsibility'—I live in an extremely populated city in North America. Every year, we have a massive event where the population of eventgoers exceeds the population of the city (people from nearby districts/cities come for the event). Do you know why we don't have an Itaewon tragedy?
1. Police are everywhere: not in an imposing, threatening sort of way, but every good few feet in case of an emergency. Always reminds people that they can't act like fools. They're friendly and they enjoy the event too.
2. EVERY NARROW ALLEYWAY IS BLOCKED OR FENCED. Police let few people in if they really need to cross or go to the bathroom.
3. ROADS ARE CLOSED. Yeah, traffic sucks ass during this time but massive roads around the area are blocked for foot traffic. We don't use alleyways because they're closed off and we're forced to filter out to the massive, closed-off roads. Have you guys seen where the location looks like? That alleyway should've been closed, the massive road (right in front of the alleyway) should've been opened for foot traffic, and zoners should've forced people to walk around and for traffic to drive around.
4. Access to entryways are restricted. When the event ends, they are still restricted but officials stand next to the flexible barriers in case they need to open or close the fences further. This allows for people to trickle in or trickle out, and they can control the flow of the crowd.
I don't know who exactly is responsible, but someone did a shit job at zoning. They were apparently anticipating large crowds, yet police were dispatched for the BTS concert (which could've been fine had they zoned the area correctly). What a senseless, needless tragedy, just like Sewol.
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