Police to Strengthen Safety Measures at Mass Gatherings with Unclear Organizers

Seodaemun-gu, Seoul Police Agency building. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The police task force (TF) for major reforms, formed after the Itaewon tragedy, held its third plenary meeting on the 1st and decided to strengthen safety activities in collaboration with related agencies for mass gatherings with unclear organizers, treating them as events with organizers.

To this end, the police plan to actively request related agencies to establish safety management plans and hold local safety management committee meetings when events with unclear organizers are identified. The safety management plan is established by comprehensively assessing risks such as ▲the event's location and time ▲the venue's capacity and participant movement routes ▲the presence of hazardous materials around the venue ▲and traffic safety threats. Based on this, the appropriateness of the safety management plan, including the level of personnel deployment, is judged.

At the meeting, measures for organizational culture innovation and police education reform to enhance on-site response capabilities were also discussed. Regarding organizational culture innovation, plans such as establishing a position assignment system based on job competency and promoting immunity for proactive administration were discussed. Lee Changwon, co-chairman of the TF, emphasized repetitive and continuous training, stating, "The most important thing at a disaster site is that when the command from the control tower is delivered to the field, the on-site personnel can respond by 'having their bodies remember the manual.'"