The biggest news in South Korea in recent times was the tragic stampede in Itaewon, Seoul, on Halloween night. The accident killed and injured 300 people, including nearly 100 foreigners, making it the deadliest accident in South Korea since the sinking of the Sewol passenger ship in 2014. Now, a week after the accident, the sadness and anger of the South Korean people have not subsided.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in South Korea
Recently, about 50,000 South Koreans participated in a large-scale candlelight rally in central Seoul to commemorate the victims of the Itaewon accident, and displayed slogans at the scene: "Yoon Seok-yue's resignation is mourning", "If President Yoon does not resign, our lives will be destroyed", and "Dissolve the National Power Party (Yoon Seok-yue's political party)" to demand Yoon Seok-yue's resignation. Due to the large scale of the gathering, "President Yoon Seok-yue's resignation" once rushed to the hot search of social media.
Some media pointed out that the reason why the people reacted so strongly, in addition to the fact that most of the dead and injured were young people, more importantly, the South Korean police and government have successively exposed many response problems, such as many South Korean citizens knew in advance that Itaewon may gather more than 100,000 people that day, but the police station only arranged 137 people to be responsible for security, and did not fully inform the scene of the danger. In addition, the South Korean prime minister smiled from beginning to end at the press conference and made untimely jokes, which made the South Korean people even more angry.
Yoon Seok-yue caused public outrage
To be fair, Yoon Seok-yue can still feel sincerity in his attitude after the accident. First, the day after the accident, Yoon Seok-yue delivered a televised speech announcing national mourning. Since then, he has also visited the mourning site for several days to express his condolences. A few days later, he also attended the "Itaewon Massacre Memorial Ceremony" and gave a eulogy while making a public apology. Later, while chairing a national security system inspection meeting, he again apologized to the families and citizens of the victims of the Itaewon accident, prayed for the victims, expressed condolences to the families of the victims, and asked why the police did not take action after receiving the report, and stated that he would thoroughly investigate the truth of the accident, transparently disclose all doubts, and seriously investigate the responsibility of those responsible.
But this is not enough to satisfy the public's desire for justice. Many are deeply ashamed of the authorities' failure to protect young people and see it as a satire on a country known for its youthful, K-pop and other images. There are also many people who believe that this accident can be avoided and the government is obviously responsible, because the direct cause of the incident is that the government did not play the most basic role, but now the bureaucrats led by Yoon Seok-yue not only did not reflect, but also looked for scapegoats, and even pushed the responsibility to young people, which is why these people asked Yoon Seok-yue to step down.
(Source: Straits Circular) Graphic infringement contact deleted