Assemblywoman Shin Hyun-young Reveals 'Mobile Situation Room' KakaoTalk Chat Contents
"Wasn't It an Intent to Distort the Essence of the Disaster and Downplay the Facts?"
[Asia Economy Reporter Han Ye-ju] Allegations have been raised that during a meeting chaired by President Yoon Seok-yeol the day after the Itaewon crowd crush disaster, there was an instruction not to use the word "crush" and to use the expression "Itaewon accident" instead.
According to materials disclosed by Shin Hyun-young, a member of the National Assembly's "Special Committee for the Investigation of the Itaewon Disaster and Prevention of Recurrence" from the Democratic Party of Korea on the 7th, a senior official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare conveyed this message on October 30 in a KakaoTalk group chat known as the so-called "mobile situation room."
Park Hyang, Director of Public Health Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, sent a message at the time saying, "Following today's meeting chaired by the President, please exclude the term 'crush' for the Itaewon crowd crush incident and refer to it as the 'Itaewon accident'." In response, one official replied, "We will change it to Itaewon accident."
The group chat included various officials from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Fire Agency, Fire Headquarters, Central Emergency Medical Support Center, disaster managers from disaster base hospitals, city and provincial governments, and emergency medical institutions.
Earlier that day, at a Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting, it was discussed to unify the accident name as "Itaewon accident" and to use terms like "deceased" and "casualties" instead of "victims" or "sacrificed," which sparked controversy when revealed.
The opposition party pointed out that this conversation shows the government, which should have focused on responding to the disaster, was instead eager to downplay its responsibility.
Assembly member Shin Hyun-young stated, "Rather than clarifying the tragic accident's truth and managing the aftermath, we must investigate whether there was an intention to cleverly distort the essence of the October 29 disaster and minimize the facts."
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