New Release 'We Are Now in Itaewon'... Interviews with 14 Survivors and Others
Social disasters easily escalate into political conflicts. Within them, victims are neither comforted nor acknowledged. As with previous disasters, the Itaewon tragedy bore a similar pattern. Some questioned whether demands for a thorough investigation had political motives, and those people remained silent when it came to calls for measures to prevent recurrence. Although the first anniversary of the disaster on October 29, 2022, which halted the lives of 159 people, is approaching, someone’s clock is still stuck one year ago. “Right Now, Our Itaewon” (Changbi) contains the stories of bereaved families, survivors, friends, and Itaewon residents and workers. Thirteen members of the '10·29 Itaewon Disaster Writer Recording Group' narrated these accounts.
The book’s distinctive feature is that it includes stories not from parents, who are commonly seen as representatives of bereaved families, but from siblings and lovers. It focuses on the stories of siblings, partners, and friends, which were easily overlooked beneath the grief of parents who lost children, revealing that their sorrow is by no means light.
At the publication briefing held on the 25th at the Francis Education Center in Jeong-dong, Seoul, Lee Jeong-min, the representative of the 10·29 Itaewon Disaster Bereaved Families Council and father of victim Lee Joo-young, said, “In the early days of the disaster, when parents were grieving deeply, I felt resentment because it seemed like the children’s grief was less. Later, I realized that their sorrow itself was unbearable, and they endured it because they didn’t want to add more grief to their parents. I think that leaving this in writing itself has great significance.”
Yoo Hae-jung, an activist who participated in writing, explained the motivation for publication: “At funerals, adults facing siblings say things like ‘You who survived must do well,’ as if the pain will be forgotten. It seems that the grief of siblings is treated relatively lightly.”
Kim Hye-in, the older sister of victim Kim Ui-hyun who participated as an oral narrator, said she joined because she wanted to leave a record that her younger brother Ui-hyun was an ordinary but hardworking person. Quoting her mother, she urged, “Let’s remember not why he went there, but why he couldn’t come back from there.” This is a plea to stop blaming the victims.
She continued, “As bereaved family members, I believe that disasters that are not remembered can happen again. We must remember why crowd control was not managed at the Halloween festival held every year, why emergency calls were ignored at the beginning of the accident, why the handling process after the accident was opaque, and why no one responsible has been held accountable.”
Activist Yoo Hae-jung said, “I hope citizens do not pass over the time when bereaved families and victims struggle to survive indifferently. Please don’t think of this as a difficult book to read, but read it with love rather than sorrow and pain.” She added, “The only achievement that can come from a disaster is that their sacrifice has changed our society.”
Lee Jeong-min, the representative of the Bereaved Families Council, announced future plans, saying, “We will work hard to enact a special law for fact-finding and to establish a special investigation committee.”
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