On Oct. 29, a large-scale crush accident occurred in Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Korea. At that time, a mass of people gathered in Itaewon just prior to Halloween, and many casualties occurred as crowds were pushed into a narrow alleyway in front of the Hamilton Hotel.
 At the time of the disaster, people in Itaewon were ready to enjoy the first Halloween without social distancing in three years after the spread of COVID-19, and the alley where the accident occurred was a very narrow area with pedestrian streets about 4m wide. However, there was no on-site crowd control and traffic management. The place where the disaster occurred is a very narrow alley on a steep slope where only five to six adults can comfortably pass. Due to the characteristics of the alley connecting the downtown area and the main road, the movement of people who came down and tried to climb overlaps, and the alley quickly exceeded the number of people it could hold. According to witnesses at the accident, as the rush from behind intensified, some of the people on the ascending slope suddenly fell, causing the ranks to collapse instantly, and even those on the descending slope to fall in layers. At around 10:12 P.M., an initial report was received stating that about 10 people were crushed by other people, and from around 10:20 P.M., several people were buried in a downhill alley. The Yongsan Fire Station and the accident site were not too far away, but it was tough for ambulances to enter the site due to the volume of people and vehicles, making it difficult to rescue victims quickly. The large crowds and delayed rescue efforts created hundreds of cardiac arrest and dyspnea victims. The accident resulted in more than 300 casualties, including 158 deaths, of which 26 were foreigners from 14 different countries.
 Major foreign media, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal, reported the Itaewon disaster in an emergency article, pointing out that the authorities lacked the proper capacity to prevent such accidents. The New York Times reported that the authorities lacked field manpower and preventative countermeasures. It also reported that the vulnerability of human resources, as revealed in the disaster, damaged Korea's image as a powerhouse in high-tech and popular culture. In fact, tens of thousands of people began to flock to Itaewon on Oct. 28, but neither Seoul City Hall or the Yongsan-gu Office took the necessary precautions to ensure against accidents caused by overcrowding. On top of that, only 137 police officers were available to manage the crowds on the day of the accident, and even this was reportedly aimed at cracking down on illegal filming and drug crimes, not preparing for potential disasters such as crowd crushes. In addition, officers did not control the direction of pedestrian traffic, install police lines or even attempt to limit the number of people entering the area, raising criticism that the accident was a preventable disaster.
 After the Seoul Halloween crowd crush, the government set a national mourning period from Oct. 30 to Nov. 5 and declared Yongsan-gu, the district in which the accident occurred, as a special disaster area. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo announced the results of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting on Oct. 30 and announced that he would provide the necessary support, including healing subsidies for the bereaved families and the injured. 
 Leaders of the world’s major countries also expressed their condolences and offered support. U.S. President Joe Biden expressed his deep consdolences to the families of the victims and prayed for the recovery of the injured.
 The funeral process for the 158 victims of the Itaewon disaster ended on Nov. 23 as one of the foreigners who died in the tragedy was repatriated. Among the dead, 132 people of Korean nationality were all buried. Two of the 26 foreigners who died  were buried in Korea, and the 23 other foreign nationals were repatriated to their own countries. 
 After the Seoul Halloween crowd crush, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced on Nov. 27 that it would develop educational videos to prevent accidents in close-to-crowded areas and distribute them to all schools. The videos will contain action tips such as preventing and managing accidents in crowded areas and how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in  emergency situations.