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Over Halloween weekend last year, nearly 160 young people died in a crowd crush in Itaewon<\/a>, a popular nightlife district in Seoul. For those who survived or lost loved ones, the past year has been a time of deep frustration and trauma.<\/p>\n A government investigation failed to explain why desperate calls<\/a> to the police were ignored for hours. Senior officials refused to take responsibility<\/a>. The disaster quickly became politicized, dividing people \u2014 and quarreling political parties \u2014 over who should be held accountable. Many wrote online that the young victims and survivors should blame themselves. The survivors said they felt revictimized.<\/p>\n In December, Lee Jae-hyeon<\/a>, 16, a survivor who had lost two of his best friends in the crowd crush, took his own<\/a> life after battling online detractors of the victims. In a video message, he asked his parents not to blame themselves for his death.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish that I would have parents like you in my next life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n As the first anniversary of the disaster approached, survivors and victims\u2019 family members struggled with unanswered questions, missing their loved ones and at the same time deeply troubled by the government\u2019s response.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The most haunting thing has been the sense of guilt among survivors and families who feel they failed to protect their friends and children.<\/p>\n Mr. Seo and his fianc\u00e9e, Lee Joo-young, 28, became trapped in the crowd when they went for a stroll through Itaewon after visiting a wedding-dress shop. Waves of people pushed into a narrow alleyway from both ends, creating a deadly, suffocating pressure in the middle.<\/p>\n Walls of people pressed in from all sides, Mr. Seo said, leaving no wriggling or breathing space. In front of him, he saw stacks of people who had fallen on top of one another. \u201cMove back! Move back!\u201d people shouted, but nothing happened.<\/p>\n Mr. Seo passed out while standing. When he came to, he found Ms. Lee standing next to him unconscious, but there was nothing he could do to revive her.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He relives the nightmarish scene several times a day.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most difficult part is the sense of guilt,\u201d Mr. Seo said. \u201cI came out alive, but I could not save her although she was standing right next to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Lee was a designer who created cartoon characters based on the cats, one black and one white, that she raised. She sold stickers, dolls, pouches and mugs bearing the cats\u2019 image.<\/p>\n \u201cShe never failed to call me between 9 and 10 in the evening, when she was driving home after work,\u201d Mr. Seo said. \u201cI feel her absence when my phone no longer rings.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Lee \u2014 the father of Ms. Lee, Mr. Seo\u2019s fianc\u00e9e \u2014 has been campaigning with other victims\u2019 families to persuade the country that official negligence was to blame for the disaster. But he has found the government of President Yoon Suk Yeol unwilling to acknowledge responsibility.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Park Geun-hye, the last president affiliated with Mr. Yoon\u2019s governing People Power Party, saw her political fortunes crash after the sinking of the Sewol ferry<\/a> in 2014. That disaster killed more than 300 people, most of them high school students<\/a>. The victims\u2019 families and their supporters helped organize enormous protests that eventually led to Ms. Park\u2019s impeachment<\/a> in 2017. Mr. Yoon\u2019s party has moved to forestall similar public discontent after Itaewon.<\/p>\n \u201cYoon Suk Yeol feared he would become a second Park Geun-hye,\u201d Mr. Lee said.<\/p>\nSeo Byong-woo, 31, survivor<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Lee Jeong-min, 61, victim\u2019s father<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n