Seoul City "One-Week Extension for the Removal Deadline of Itaewon Memorial Altar"

"Please inform the bereaved family of their preferred memorial site by the weekend"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it will extend the demolition deadline by one week for the memorial altar at Seoul Plaza set up by the bereaved families of the Itaewon tragedy. Along with this, they requested the families to propose their preferred memorial location by the weekend.

On the 6th, a citizen is paying tribute to the victims at the joint memorial altar for the 1029 Itaewon disaster victims installed in front of Seoul City Hall Plaza. The Itaewon Disaster Citizens' Countermeasures Committee and the Bereaved Families' Association set up the altar at Seoul Plaza on the 4th, but Seoul City announced that if the altar is not voluntarily removed by 1 p.m. on the 6th, administrative enforcement will be carried out. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the 7th, Oh Shin-hwan, Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs of Seoul, held an emergency briefing at Seoul City Hall, stating, "We understand the bereaved families' sorrowful feelings, so we will not treat this issue like any other," and added, "We will postpone the administrative enforcement for one week."

Earlier, the city had delivered a second warning letter to the bereaved families the previous afternoon, stating that if the memorial altar was not voluntarily removed by 1 p.m. on the 8th, administrative enforcement would be carried out.

Regarding the postponement of administrative enforcement, Deputy Mayor Oh emphasized, "The permanent memorial facility at Seoul Plaza has not gained any public consensus," and added, "The administrative enforcement to remove unauthorized facilities is a perfectly appropriate measure as an administrative enforcement agency."

He also said, "Please clarify whether the public building near Itaewon, which the bereaved families have continuously requested as a memorial space, is still valid," and "We will give the bereaved families time until the weekend to find and propose their preferred location."