[Itaewon Tragedy] Victims Likely to Face Difficulties in Applying Citizen Safety Insurance

On the 31st, a citizen is paying tribute to the victims at the memorial space for the victims of the 'Halloween crowd crush' accident set up in front of Exit 1 of Itaewon Station on Seoul Subway Line 6 in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] Victims who died or were injured in the tragedy that occurred on October 29 in Itaewon, Seoul, ahead of Halloween Day are unlikely to easily receive government public insurance compensation.

According to the insurance industry on the 31st, local governments such as Seoul City and Yongsan District have subscribed to public insurance like citizen safety insurance or liability insurance for facilities to ensure residents' safety. However, the insurance industry judges that it will not be easy to apply these public insurances to the victims of this tragedy.

Citizen safety insurance is an insurance product that the government subscribes to on behalf of citizens who suffer unexpected accidents. It can compensate up to 20 million KRW for injuries caused by natural disasters such as typhoons, floods, and earthquakes, injuries caused by fire or explosions, injuries while using public transportation, and injuries from traffic accidents within school zones. Citizens affected by the typhoon that occurred last month in Pohang also receive partial compensation through the citizen safety insurance subscribed by Pohang City.

However, citizen safety insurance has limited compensation conditions, such as natural disasters or public transportation accidents, making it difficult to apply to the victims of the Itaewon tragedy. Liability insurance for facilities, which compensates for accidents occurring in public facilities, is also understood not to apply to this incident.

Another obstacle to victim compensation is that the organizer of the Itaewon Halloween festival, which caused this accident, is unclear. Usually, festival organizers subscribe to various insurances to prepare for accidents, but in this case, the event was voluntarily participated in by citizens, and there is no clear organizer.

Ultimately, it is analyzed that victims will have to rely on private insurance they personally subscribed to or government consolation money and support funds. Injured citizens can receive medical expense support through actual expense medical insurance, and in the case of the deceased, insurance money is paid to the bereaved families through injury death insurance, life insurance, etc.

The government also plans to provide consolation money and funeral support expenses. The government declared Yongsan District in Seoul a special disaster area and announced that it will support medical expenses, consolation money, and funeral expenses for the bereaved families of the deceased and the injured.