Interior ministry to mark Itaewon crowd crush anniversary with Gwanghwamun memorial

The interior ministry said Tuesday it will hold a memorial ceremony at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul on Oct. 29 to mark the fourth anniversary of the Itaewon crowd crush.

The ceremony, set to begin at 10:29 a.m., is being organized jointly by the ministry, the bereaved families' council for the Oct. 29 Itaewon tragedy, a citizens' response committee and the Seoul city government. About 1,000 people are expected to attend, including government representatives, party leaders, National Assembly members, foreign diplomats in Korea, civic groups and members of the public. Pre-registration runs through the memorial website, itaewon1029.com, from Oct. 6 to Oct. 19, and 35 representatives of the families of foreign victims who traveled to Korea for the event will deliver remarks.

The program opens with a moment of silence at 10:29 a.m., followed by a memorial address from a government representative and greetings from a representative of the bereaved families. A thematic video will be screened, novelist Jeong Bo-ra will read a piece titled "Writing Memory," and singer Ali will perform a memorial song. Bereaved families and citizens will then read a "fourth-anniversary pledge," and the Seoul Musical Company will close the ceremony with a performance of "You Will Be Found."

The event comes as the special investigation committee's mandate has been extended. The government framed the ceremony as an expression of national will to honor the 160 victims and to carry the lessons of the disaster into public safety, which it called the top value of state affairs.

"This fourth-anniversary memorial will be a place of promise where we engrave the precious lives of the 160 victims deep in our hearts and where the government and society take one step further together to establish the truth and restore the honor of the bereaved families," Interior Minister Yoon Ho-jung said. Yoon also said that keeping people's daily lives safe from all threats is the duty of the state, and that the government will concentrate all its capabilities on building a society that puts people's lives and safety first so that a tragedy like the Itaewon crowd crush is never repeated.