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A6 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 2 november 2022

S. Korea officials admit responsibility in Halloween tragedy

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associ- two-thirds were women.
ated Press During a Cabinet council
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) meeting Tuesday, President
— South Korean officials Yoon Suk Yeol acknowl-
admitted responsibility and edged that South Korea
apologized on Tuesday for lacks research on crowd
failures in preventing and management. He called
responding to a Hallow- for the use of drones and
een crowd surge that killed other high-tech resources
more than 150 people and to develop an effective
left citizens shocked and crowd control capability,
angry. The government is and said the government
facing growing public scru- will soon meet with experts
tiny over whether the crush to review national safety
Saturday night in Seoul's rules.
Itaewon district, a popu- The crowd surge is South
lar nightlife neighborhood, Korea's deadliest disaster
could have been prevent- since a 2014 ferry sinking
ed and who should take re- that killed 304 people and
sponsibility for the country's exposed lax safety rules
worst disaster in years. and regulatory failures.
National police chief Yoon Saturday's surge has raised
Hee Keun said an initial A man bows to pay tribute to victims of a deadly accident following Saturday night's public questions about
investigation found there Halloween festivities on a street near the scene in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022. what South Korea has
were many urgent calls South Korean police investigated on Monday what caused a crowd surge that killed more done since then to prevent
from citizens notifying au- than 150 people during Halloween festivities in Seoul in the country’s worst disaster in years. human-made disasters.
thorities about the poten- Associated Press After the Itaewon disas-
tial danger of the crowd Yoon said police have offered public apologies. described people falling ter, police launched a
gathering in Itaewon. He launched an intense inter- Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on one another, suffering 475-member task force to
said police officers who re- nal probe into the officers' apologized deeply and severe breathing difficulties find its cause.
ceived the calls failed to handling of the emergen- wept and briefly halted and falling unconscious. Senior police officer Nam
handle them effectively. cy calls and other issues, his news conference as he They said rescuers and am- Gu-Jun told reporters Mon-
"I feel a heavy responsibil- such as the on-the-spot re- talked about the parent bulances failed to reach day that officers have ob-
ity (for the disaster) as the sponse to the crowd surge of a 20-year-old woman the crammed alleys in time tained videos taken by
head of one of the related in Itaewon that night. who was declared dead because the entire Itae- about 50 security cameras
government offices," Yoon Separately, South Korea's earlier in the day. The di- won area was packed with in the area and were ana-
said in a televised news interior minister, emergen- saster which left at least slow-moving vehicles and lyzing video clips posted on
conference. "Police will do cy office chief, Seoul may- 156 people dead and 151 partygoers clad in Hallow- social media. Nam said po-
their best to prevent a trag- or and the head of a ward others injured was concen- een costumes. lice had also interviewed
edy like this from happen- office that includes the trated in a narrow downhill Most of the dead were in more than 40 witnesses
ing again." Itaewon neighborhood all alley in Itaewon. Witnesses their 20s and 30s, and about and survivors so far.q

Shanghai Disney guests kept in closed park for virus testing

By JOE McDONALD AP Busi- President Xi Jinping's gov- told reporters he was "not mally. ing Monday while visitors
ness Writer ernment is sticking to a se- aware of what you just Some rides and other were tested, according to
BEIJING (AP) — Visitors to vere "Zero COVID" strategy mentioned" when asked amusements kept operat- social media posts.q
Shanghai Disneyland were that has shut down Shang- about the rumor.
temporarily blocked from hai and other cities this year Outbreaks in Shanghai in
leaving as part of virus to isolate every case while March led to a shutdown
testing that extended to other countries are easing that confined most of its
more than 400,000 people, anti-virus controls. 25 million people to their
the city government an- Also Tuesday, authorities in homes for two months.
nounced Tuesday. the southern territory of Ma- The city government ap-
The park closed Monday cao were carrying out virus pealed to anyone who
for testing of staff and visi- tests on all of its 700,000 resi- had visited the Shanghai
tors, Walt Disney Co. and dents after one case was Disney Resort since Thurs-
the government said in found last week. day to undergo three days
separate statements. The Hong Kong's main stock of nucleic acid testing and
city health bureau said market index surged 5.2% avoid gathering in groups.
guests all tested negative on Tuesday after a com- Disney said Monday parts
and were allowed to leave ment circulated on Chi- of the resort closed due to
by 8:30 p.m. nese social media that said anti-virus regulations but
No details of a possible out- the ruling Communist Party gave no indication visitors A woman has her throat swabbed for a COVID-19 test at
break were released, but might set up a "reopening were kept inside. It said a coronavirus testing site in Beijing, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022.
Shanghai Disneyland was closed and visitors temporarily kept
1.3 million residents of the committee" to look at ways Shanghai Disneyland, Dis- in the park for virus testing, the city government announced,
downtown Yangpu district to wind down anti-virus neytown and Wishing Star while social media posts said some amusements kept operating
were ordered Friday to stay controls. A foreign minis- Park were closed while two for guests who were blocked from leaving.
at home for virus testing. try spokesman, Zhao Lijian, hotels were operating nor- Associated Press