Halloween fear rising in Itaewon

Flowers and messages from mourners at a makeshift memorial for the victims of the Itaewon tragedy. — AFP

FROM the beginning, with the grief still raw and anguished questions unanswered, the South Korean government distanced itself from the disaster that unfolded last year on a Halloween weekend in Seoul.

Nearly 160 revellers were crushed to death in a narrow alleyway in the Itaewon neighbourhood after huge throngs had amassed with no police officers to control them, despite official warnings that the gathering would be unusually large after the end of pandemic restrictions.