Bereaved families of Seoul’s Halloween horror to sue government for botched response
- The families of the 156 who died in the tragedy are to take part in the collective lawsuit against central and local governments
- Poor handling of the incident, even though public harm was anticipated due to the surging crowd size, could be seen as a violation of related laws
Bereaved families of victims of the Itaewon crowd crush on October 29 are moving to take class action against the government, seeking compensation over its botched prevention and response to the disaster.
Good Lawyers, a Seoul-based law firm, is encouraging the families of the 156 who died in the tragedy to take part in the collective lawsuit against the central and local governments.
“Grieving for the victims has been our top priority, but now that the facts about what happened that night are being disclosed, we cannot hold back our anger against the central and local governments’ incompetence and their attempts to evade responsibility,” read the statement from the law firm.
“Compensation claims against the state and local governments (Seoul Metropolitan Government and Yongsan District Office) are technically the only way victims and their bereaved families can exercise their legal rights,” it said.
Eight people have joined the collective legal action as of Friday, according to Jeon Su-mi, a lawyer handling the case. Jeon, who is a member of the policy committee of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), served as the party’s deputy spokesperson last year.