South Korea's President Lee Chairs National Life and Safety Meeting on Eve of Itaewon Anniversary, Putting Life Above All Other Values
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung chaired the second plenary meeting of the National Life and Safety Committee at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on October 28. About 70 people attended, including government officials, victims of safety incidents and bereaved family members. The meeting discussed government safety policies and measures to reduce suicides, unattended ('lonely') deaths, industrial accidents and crowd accidents, and heard from victims and families. It fell on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the Itaewon crowd tragedy, which took 159 lives.
The Framework Act on Life and Safety was passed by the National Assembly on May 7 and takes effect on December 3, 2026. In remarks after the meeting, President Lee said economic growth and national development mean nothing if workers lose their lives at work and never make it home, that 'another day of safe return' has become a core responsibility of the state, that no value takes precedence over the state protecting the people's lives and safety, and that the government should be judged by how many more lives it has protected and saved.
The presidential office said the committee is the presidential deliberative body on life and safety policy, and that this was its second plenary session, with ministry safety-policy reports and reduction measures for the four categories of incidents on the agenda.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 韩国首尔的青瓦台。kallerna 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Cheong Wa Dae, the Blue House, in Seoul, South Korea. Photo by kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
