By Su-Hyun Lee, John Yoon, Luke Vander Ploeg and Victoria KimMore than 100 of those killed in the South Korean capital were in their 20s, planning for the next chapter of their lives.
Mourners gathered at memorials in Seoul to honor the 154 people killed in a crowd crush during Halloween celebrations in the Itaewon district.CreditCredit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
A small-town girl, three days shy of turning 20, who dreamed of studying fashion design. A newly minted college graduate, just settling into her first real-world job as a consultant. A budding polyglot with a passion for international business, two months into a semester abroad that had been delayed by the pandemic.
As portraits emerged of the 154 people who died in a crowd surge Saturday in the South Korean capital, Seoul, the losses cut deeper because so many were young people on the cusp of a new chapter.
More than 100 of those killed were in their 20s, many excitedly decked out in costume for the first Halloween in full swing since before the pandemic. Five people were high school students, according to the South Korean Education Ministry. One, the ministry said, was in middle school.
The young have always been drawn to Itaewon, Seoul’s most foreign-influenced neighborhood with a rich fabric of kebab shops, gay bars, taquerias and a mosque — all of which had come to be synonymous with the diversity of the community. The neighborhood’s worldwide draw was evident in just how far the tragedy reverberated: Among the dead were citizens of Australia, Austria, China, France, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Norway, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United States, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Their lives would come to an end in a narrow, steep alleyway leading from a palm-tree-lined Hawaiian-theme bar past a Japanese izakaya and hip-hop club to the main street.
