The party district of Itaewon in Seoul always draws the crowds on Halloween. Now an alley became a death trap. The search for culprits could have political consequences.
It was supposed to be South Korea’s biggest Halloween party in three years. But after more than 150 teenagers and twenty-somethings – two thirds of them women – were trampled to death in the capital Seoul on Sunday night, the country is in mourning. President Yoon Suk Yeol immediately declared a week of national mourning on Sunday and had an altar built for the victims. That’s how deep the shock of Itaewon, the district where the tragedy took place, is.