- Jean Mackenzie, Won Jung Bae and Hosu Lee
- BBC News, Seoul
Funeral homes in Seoul are now filled with the bodies of young people and their grieving parents.
At the end of the long corridor, BBC found the Sim couple sitting on a small couch, unable to raise their heads.
In one of the rooms is the body of his son, James Sim, 28 years old. In the next room is James’ friend Yoon. And in the funeral home on the other side of town lies James’ girlfriend.
On Saturday night, they went to Itaewon together with two other friends to celebrate Halloween. James organized the evening. “Constantly was the organizerbecause he loved partying with his friends,” his mother said.
James was one of more than 150 people who died in the throng of people in the narrow alley surrounded by bars.
an unexpected call
The first sign that something was wrong came when his parents – like many others – woke up to find their son’s bed empty. James’ father asked James’ friends to call him, but he was contacted by the police.
Caught in a deadly jam, the two friends managed to squeeze through the crowd and onto some fences at the edge of the alley. James, his girlfriend and Yoon couldn’t get out.
James Sim’s parents still don’t have the guts to blame anyone for their son’s death.
The missing young man loved to exercise and spent most of his free time at the gym, lifting weights to get in shape, his mother said. She can’t understand how it didn’t save her life.
James’ relationship was getting serious, his father says. He and his girlfriend would soon be marriedthat they survived.
The young man worked as a plumber, a job he did diligently, but his passions were skiing and surfing.
Her mother’s eyes crinkle with a glow of delight as she talks about what she loved to do, but her father is close and the tears begin to flow.
“James was the best big brother,” she recalled. “How will my little boy do without him?”
divided pain
By James Sim’s coffin sit half a dozen of his old school friends.
Park Ju-sung had known him since they were eight years old. “I was such a shy child,” he said and added: “James was my only friend. He invited me to everything and encouraged me to train taekwondo with him. It helped me be more open.”
image source, EPA
Authorities are continuing to investigate to determine what happened in Itaweon and whether it could have been avoided.
James’ friend Yoon, whose coffin is in the next room, was 28 and comfortable in his own company. He loved to explore. He went to bars alone at night and tried to talk to strangers to learn languages, Jung-su said, admiring his confidence.
More than half of the victims were 20 years old. and the trauma is felt in the current generation.
This is the second disaster they are experiencing. In 2014, 250 high school students died when a ferry capsized on the southwest coast of the country. The victims would now be in their 20s.
A call in the midst of despair
At a large public altar in central Seoul, people gathered to mourn.
Kim Dae-hui, 19, laid a single white chrysanthemum, the Korean flower of mourning, in honor of his friend Raghu Jordan, who was 21.
Kim Dae-hui learned that his friend Raghu was one of the 155 victims of the human avalanche through videos shared on social media.
Jordagan moved to South Korea from Malaysia in January 2021. The two became friends after Jordagan approached him on the street to compliment his style. The deceased was young tworked in construction to earn money for his family at home, but he was creative at heart and dreamed of being a fashion designer, Kim said.
They hung out to hip hop music and exchanged fashion tips. They taught each other their languages. “Raghu was more patient than meI never got angry,” Dae-hi recalled, taking off her glasses to sink her face into her hands.
When the stampede started, Jordagan called it the alley video. He was next to a young woman who was breathing heavily. They stayed on the phone while he tried to figure out how to escape. Then the woman’s hand went cold and Jordagan hung up. This was the last time Dae-hui heard from him.
The next morning he watched videos shared on social media and he saw his friend’s face in a crowd, pale. He tried to convince himself that it was someone else with a similar appearance. Then the police called and told him the bad news.
“They pushed him and stomped on him,” he said he was told.
Knowing the names and stories of the dead makes this tragedy even more difficult for South Koreans to understand. Citizens are clamoring for answers, putting authorities under increasing pressure to determine exactly what went wrong and who is responsible.
James’ parents, however, have no intention of blaming anyone.
“Our son was pushed and died. It was an accident. We didn’t think who was responsible. We can’t think. The only thing we can do is cry,” they commented.
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