Notice to Remove Itaewon Disaster Memorial Altar, How Was It During the Sewol Ferry Incident 5 Years Ago?

Seoul City Issues Notice to Remove Memorial Altars... Civic Groups and Bereaved Families Oppose
Sewol Ferry Memorial Space Faces "Preserve" vs "Remove" Conflict

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] As Seoul City announced the administrative enforcement to dismantle the citizen memorial altar set up by the bereaved families of the Itaewon tragedy, conflicts with the families have intensified. Opinions have emerged that it reminds people of the Sewol ferry memorial altar, which was repeatedly disputed for over five years before eventually being dismantled.

Seoul City notified that if the memorial altar set up at Seoul Plaza is not removed by 1 p.m. on the 6th, administrative enforcement will be carried out. The city maintains that if the altar is not voluntarily dismantled, administrative enforcement is inevitable.

However, the bereaved families and civic groups stayed overnight guarding the altar and protested against the dismantling notice. They rejected Seoul City’s alternative proposal to set up a memorial altar on the 4th basement floor of Noksapyeong Station on Subway Line 6. The families argued that they cannot establish a memorial altar in an underground space as suffocating as the alley where the tragedy occurred.

The memorial altar was set up on the sidewalk in front of Seoul Library within Seoul Plaza. On the 4th, the 100th day since the tragedy, the 10·29 Itaewon Tragedy Citizens’ Countermeasures Committee suddenly installed the altar here while marching toward Gwanghwamun, the site of the 100-day citizen memorial rally.

On the afternoon of the 4th, police surrounded the Itaewon disaster memorial altar that was suddenly set up at Seoul Plaza. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Seoul City regards the memorial altar as an unauthorized occupation of the plaza. According to the "Ordinance on the Use and Management of Seoul Plaza," users must submit an application and obtain permission from the city to use the plaza. If the plaza is occupied without permission, the city can order the removal of facilities or take necessary measures. Seoul City is concerned about safety issues caused by illegal facilities and potential conflicts among citizens.

This controversy recalls the Sewol ferry memorial altar that remained in Gwanghwamun Plaza for over five years. The Sewol ferry altar was installed in Gwanghwamun Plaza from July 2014, three months after the tragedy, but after repeated disputes, it was dismantled on March 18, 2019.

During this process, opinions sharply clashed between those insisting on maintaining the altar for mourning and those demanding the removal of illegal facilities. Criticism also arose that some politicians were using the altar’s dismantling as a spark for controversy.

Later, the Sewol ferry remembrance and safety exhibition space (Memory Space), which opened in April 2019, also faced repeated conflicts and eventually left Gwanghwamun Plaza. The Memory Space, half the size of the original altar tent, consisted of exhibition rooms and citizen participation spaces, but was relocated in front of the Seoul Metropolitan Council in November 2021 due to the Gwanghwamun Plaza restructuring project.

Although Gwanghwamun Plaza reopened in August last year, the Memory Space has not returned to its original location. In June last year, Seoul City reportedly expressed its intention to dismantle the space by notifying the cutoff of electricity and water, stating that the temporary space’s operation period had ended.