While numerous South Koreans commemorated the victims of the weekend's Halloween celebrations in Seoul at public funeral altars across the country, the discussion about official failure begins.
President Yoon Suk-yeol was one of the first leaders to lay flowers in silent prayer at the erected memorial altars.
Meanwhile, the flags were flying at half-mast on the public buildings.
Patrick Welter
Correspondent for business and politics in Japan based in Tokyo.
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According to the latest information, 154 people died in the throng of people in a narrow alley in the Itaewon district in the tragedy late on Saturday evening.
According to the authorities, 26 foreigners are among the fatalities.
33 people were reported seriously injured Monday, 119 slightly.
Many businesses in the neighborhood closed in deference until the end of the national mourning.
Meanwhile, South Korea is looking for answers to the question of why the disaster was not prevented.
One problem that turned out to be that the police and the district authorities had not taken any special measures to ensure the safety of the mass event because it was a spontaneous gathering of people and not an organized event.
Almost 140 police officers were on duty.
There were no barriers or access restrictions to the roughly 40-foot-long alley where the victims died in the crowd.
The police admitted that they had expected a large crowd, but not such a disaster.
The number of people who wanted to spend a happy evening on Halloween weekend was not much higher than in previous years.
Shortly thereafter, Seoul Metro counted more than 160,000 people boarding and alighting at the Itaewon subway station, very close to the site of the accident.
On Saturday, more than twice as many people were out and about as the daily average for the past three years.