Seoul City Revokes Yongsan's 'Safety Grand Prize'... Oh Sehoon Apologizes to Itaewon Disaster Victims' Families

Award Presented on the 22nd, Revoked on the 27th Amid Controversy
Mayor Oh: "I Was Unaware of the Competition"
"Apologies to the Bereaved Families of the Itaewon Disaster"

The Seoul Metropolitan Government awarded, then revoked, the grand prize to Yongsan District at the '2025 Regional Festival Safety Management Best Practices Competition.' In response, Mayor Oh Sehoon expressed his apologies to the bereaved families of the Itaewon disaster.

On August 28, during the 332nd temporary session of the Seoul Metropolitan Council, Mayor Oh made this statement in response to a related question from Lee Sora, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea. He said, "It has not yet been three full years since the Itaewon disaster occurred, and although the Yongsan District Mayor was acquitted in the first trial, the legal proceedings have not been fully concluded." He added, "Most people probably found it difficult to understand when reading the news articles."

Yonhap News

Previously, on August 22, the city had awarded the grand prize to Yongsan District at the 2025 Regional Festival Safety Management Best Practices Competition. At that time, Yongsan District presented on the topic of 'Crowd Safety Management for Halloween in Yongsan.' The appropriateness of the award became a subject of controversy, and the city revoked Yongsan District's award the day before. Plans to present the mayor's commendation and prize money, which had been scheduled for the end of next month, were also canceled.

Mayor Oh stated that he had not been aware of the award in advance. When asked whether he had received a report regarding the decision, he replied, "I was not even aware that such a competition had taken place," and added, "As I recall, it was handled by the director in charge."

Regarding the purpose of the competition, he explained, "I understand that officials organized the event in the format of a competition among districts to explore how to prevent such incidents and minimize the occurrence of similar situations." He added, "Regardless of the circumstances, I believe there was a lack of empathy for the bereaved families and insufficient political sensitivity."