Four years after deadly crowd crush, foreign victims’ families return to Itaewon for answers

SEOUL – For Rashed Rashed, Seoul is a place associated with a tragedy he said “never should have happened”. His daughter, Grace Rashed, was killed in the Itaewon crowd crush on Oct 29, 2022.The 23-year-old Australian was among the 160 people killed in the disaster. She had been travelling in South Korea with friends on the night of Oct 29, 2022, before Halloween.“Even after four years, nothing has gotten better. It still feels hard and painful,” Rashed told The Korea Herald. “It’s still very hard. It’s sleepless, a lot of thinking.”Rashed and his family returned to Seoul in 2026, following previous visits, to mark the fourth anniversary of the disaster.They were among 35 bereaved family members from 10 countries who marched from the alley where the crowd crush occurred to Seoul City Hall on Oct 24, wearing purple jackets in remembrance of the victims.After travelling thousands of kilometres to a city marked by painful memories, the families renewed calls for a transparent investigation.For those living overseas, the wait for answers has been compounded by difficulties obtaining information and following developments in Korean.A long journey for answers“It is extremely difficult to keep track of everything from Norway,” said Erik Evensen, the father of Norwegian victim Stine Roalkvam Evensen. “It is also exhausting to constantly search for information and have to translate it from Korean.”For many bereaved family members overseas, visiting Seoul offers a rare opportunity to hear updates on the investigation and the measures taken in the disaster’s aftermath.Zahra Rezaei, the mother of Iranian victim Afagh Rastamesh, said she had relied on the bereaved families’ social media account for news.“Even though my daughter lost her life, I am still waiting to know when the reason comes and how it will come,” Rezaei said during the march.“I haven’t received information directly, so I only get updates by following the bereaved families’ official social media account, ‘Stars’ Home’.”Zahra Rezaei from Iran marches with a portrait of her daughter, Afagh Rastamesh, who died in the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush. PHOTO: THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORKRezaei said her husband could not travel to South Korea because he had been suffering from health problems following the shock of their daughter’s death.“I hoped that meeting other bereaved families here would bring me some relief,” she added.Kang Min-ha, the aunt of South Korean victim Lee Sang-eun, said overseas bereaved families contacted her for updates whenever developments occurred in South Korea, as language barriers made it difficult for them to follow the news themselves.“Even those of us living in South Korea are still questioning how things are going. Imagine how frustrating it must be for them,” Kang said.“Faced with an unacceptable loss, many families seem to feel as though their children, who came to South Korea to travel, study or work, have yet to return home,” she added.Call for a communication channelThe difficulty of obtaining information was also raised at the Oct 27 press conference at Stars’ Home, where overseas bereaved families called for an official communication channel.“We have asked multiple times for a channel through which we can communicate easily and get accurate information, but such a channel has never been established,” said Jalal Far Hajar, the mother of Iranian victim Ali Parakand.Asked whether South Korean embassies in their home countries had contacted them, none of the families attending the press conference said they had received contact between their visit for the anniversary in 2025 and the start of arrangements for the 2026 trip.Families also said the updates they received in 2026 differed little from those provided during their visit for the third anniversary.The National Commission for the Investigation of the Oct 29 Itaewon Disaster began its work in June 2025 and secured a one-year extension beyond its originally scheduled September deadline.But bereaved families said its interim briefing on Oct 27 had left major questions unanswered.Families said they had only recently been allowed to view footage and images gathered by the commission to help establish whether their loved ones appeared in the material and how they became caught in the crowd.They said the footage raised questions about the rescue response and police deployment that the authorities had yet to adequately explain.“Last year, we were promised a thorough investigation into the truth by the president and the National Assembly during our visit, which was coordinated with the help of civic groups,” Far Hajar said. She called on the authorities to honour those promises.For Evensen, returning to South Korea means revisiting a country his daughter loved. He remembered her affection for South Korea, Hangul and speaking Korean, and questioned whether the country had shown the same affection for her.“It is difficult to come back to South Korea once again. We wish we did not have to,” he said.“To honour Stine, the investigation and all inquiries must be completed as soon as possible.” THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK