Minister of Public Administration and Security Lee Sang-min announced that, taking the Itaewon crushing disaster as an opportunity, a mass crowd accident would be added as a type of social disaster in the law and management would be institutionalized.
On the morning of the 27th, Minister Lee appeared at the Special Committee for Government Investigation on the Itaewon Disaster and said in a greeting, "The Itaewon Disaster revealed several vulnerabilities related to the massacre."
He said, "In the meantime, accidents with large crowds have been in the blind spot of management, and there has been insufficient recognition of danger signals, early reporting of accidents, and operation of the radio system, and a lack of organic response centered on the site."
Minister Lee said, "We will add crowd accidents as a type of social disaster to the Disaster and Safety Act, and revise related manuals and public action guidelines." We will make it happen,” he explained.
Minister Lee also announced that the national security system would be completely overhauled.
He said, "We will actively respond to the diversification of disaster patterns due to climate change and make every effort to strengthen field-centered disaster management capabilities."
He continued, "We will promote joint monitoring by linking closed circuit TV for disaster management purposes by local government with the National Disaster Management Information System (NDMS), and we will also build a big data-based sharing platform for integrated collection and utilization of data distributed and managed by each institution. "he explained.
Prior to today's report on the Itaewon disaster, Minister Lee said, "Once again, I express my deep condolences to those who died in this disaster, and I offer my sincere condolences to the bereaved families."
He added, "As the minister of the ministry responsible for public safety, I feel a heavy sense of responsibility for not properly protecting the lives of the people. I will actively pay tribute to the victims and actively cooperate in identifying the cause of the disaster."
(Photo = Yonhap News)