“We Will Endure Until the End to Find Out the Truth”

It has been five months since the 10/29 Itaewon Halloween crowd crush. The bereaved families are still guarding the incense altar to present their family members' condolence, who sadly passed away in the disaster. The bereaved families called each other someone's mom and dad without knowing each other's real names and relied on each ot“her, remembering the deceased family members. The reality, which rose to the topic due to the confrontation with Seoul Metropolitan City was no different from an ordinary mother and father who miss their children.

At 11:00 a.m. on March 25th, “Channel PNU” visited the joint memorial altar for the victims of the 10/29 Itaewon Halloween crowd crush, which was prepared on one side of the Seoul Plaza. The bereaved families stayed in temporary tents set up next to the incense altar in Seoul Plaza and greeted citizens who came to the incense altar. While some citizens stepped back and went to the incense altar to lay flowers and offer silent prayers, others hurried their way. Nevertheless, the bereaved families did not stop and asked citizens to sign the enactment of the “Special Act on Investigation of the Truth.”

The bereaved families suffered from friction with Seoul City in the process of moving the incense burner from Noksapyeong Station Square to Seoul Plaza. The city proposed to the bereaved families to operate a joint incense altar at Seoul Plaza for five days from April 1st to 5th and then withdraw. However, the bereaved families said they could never leave that place, their last bastion, where none of their demands were received. Song Jin-Young (Vice president, Council of the Bereaved Family) said, "That is an arbitrary decision without agreements with the bereaved family. It is the bereaved family who decides the end of the incense altar."

■Even pain is subject to conflict

The bereaved families demanded a sincere apology from the current government and the city of Seoul and “the enactment of a special law” to find out the truth. It is to reveal the clear truth of the disaster that brought the lives of loved ones and give them accountability. However, these voices were soon embroiled in fierce domestic political quarrels. Some politicians use the controversy over the incense altar as a political tool, and public opinions have criticized the bereaved families as just a political group. Kim Un-Joong (56), the father of the deceased Kim San-Ha, said, "Now I have a philosophical view of seeing the appeals of people who lost their families in an instant as just a political strife."

Even though the meeting with the bereaved family was inside the tent, the voices of the first criticism, “How long are you going to protest against the government like this?” and the voice of the second victim shouting out in severe curses, were heard over the loudspeaker from the outside. There was also a woman passing by spraying water in front of the tent while openly clicking her tongue at the bereaved family. Choi Seon-Mi (49), the mother of the deceased Park Ga-Yeong, said, “Compared to the previous Noksapyeong Station, this has also decreased significantly. I'm used to criticism from citizens now, but the government's response is a real secondary offense."

According to media reports this month, the government launched a support group for the Ministry of Public Administration and Security a month after the disaster to support the bereaved families, but no actual meeting was held. Choi said, “I called (to the support group) to see if I could get help, but only came back saying, “There is nothing we can do yet.” I'm just expressing dissatisfaction with the government's response itself.”

■Only mind to endure

Inside the tent where the bereaved family stayed was a poor environment with no place to stretch out comfortably. Only a few plastic chairs were placed amid the piles of items needed to operate the incense altar. It was the only place where the bereaved family could rest while guarding the incense altar. Kim touched his knee, which suffered from frostbite this winter, and said, "These days, the weather became warm, but most of the bereaved family suffered from frostbite in the tent during the winter, so it was physically difficult."

Choi said, “This winter was also difficult to endure, but the coming summer will be a real hurdle.” Still wanting to keep this position firmly, he said that I'm repeatedly reminding myself of my daughter's words that contain the meaning of enduring attitude. In addition, he added, "When I first learned this word from my daughter, I felt sorry for the generation that did not take the word “enduring pain” seriously, but I hope that many people, including the bereaved family, will endure to the end no matter how difficult it may be."

■Hope to reach all people

Mr. Kim, who has lived half his life in Busan, was happy to hear that “Channel PNU” had come out to cover this story, and thought of his daughter, who had spent her school days nearby. Mr. Kim traveled long distances between Busan and Seoul almost every day, going to the incense altar. He said, “I felt that in Busan, where we have no choice but to come into contact with the media (issues related to the incense altar) because we are far away, in Busan people do not know our story well.”

A citizen, Mr. Park, who visited the incense altar from Gwangju, also said, “I stopped by for a while from the provinces for work. I couldn’t feel it because of the physical distance, but when I came to the scene in person, the expression of the bereaved family touched me.” Jang Min-Woo (31) from Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, said, “Working in the health industry, I felt that overall safety awareness in Korea was low. People should pay attention to prevent such unfortunate accidents from happening again.”

On the other hand, the Council of the Bereaved Family asked for a lot of interest in the national tour of the “10/.29 Truth Bus.” From March 27th, it started touring by bus to enact an independent “special law on fact-finding,” and has been touring around 11 regions urging people to sign.

Reporter Yoon Da-Gyo

Translated by Kim Hyeon-Hee