South Korea’s long-awaited public inquiry into the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush opened on Thursday with tearful testimony from survivors and heated exchanges between police officials accused of mishandling emergency calls on the night of the disaster.
The hearing came more than three years after the tragedy, following prolonged political gridlock, disputes over accountability and repeated delays in forming an independent investigative body.
The National Commission for the Investigation of the October 29 Itaewon Disaster, the special fact-finding group investigating the tragedy, began the first of two days of hearings in central Seoul.
The session drew bereaved families and witnesses whose testimonies shed new light on a chain of failures preceding the crowd surge, resulting in the deaths of 159 people during Halloween celebrations.
Tears filled the hall as survivor Min Seung-ho recounted the moments before a crowd surge in a narrow alley in Itaewon turned fatal.
Min Seung-ho, Cheong Wa Dae, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Halloween, Song Gi-chun, Itaewon, Seoul, Kim Kwang-ho, crowd crush, The Korea Times, Yongsan, National Commission for the Investigation of the October Itaewon Disaster, Itaewon Disaster Investigation Act, Lee Im-jae, Kim Hyun-kwon#South #Korea #witnesses #describe #chain #failures #Itaewon #crowd #crush #inquiry #begins1773301740
Begins
Chain
Cheong Wa Dae
crowd
crowd crush
crush
describe
failures
Halloween
inquiry
Itaewon
Itaewon Disaster Investigation Act
Kim Hyun-kwon
Kim Kwang-ho
Korea
Lee Im-jae
Min Seung-ho
National Commission for the Investigation of the October Itaewon Disaster
Seoul
Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency
Song Gi-chun
South
The Korea Times
witnesses
Yongsan
