President Yoon Suk Yeol on the morning of Oct. 30 delivers an emergency statement to the nation on the "Itaewon incident" at the briefing room of the Office of the President in Seoul's Yongsan-gu District. (Office of the President) 

By Xu Aiying

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Oct. 30 said about the "Itaewon incident," "The government will designate a national mourning period from today until the resolution of the incident and place top priority on handling the incident and follow-up measures."

In an emergency statement to the people in the morning at the briefing room of the Office of the President in Seoul's Yongsan-gu District, he said, "As a president responsible for the lives and safety of the people, my heart is heavy and I find it difficult to contain my deep sorrow."

"This was truly disastrous," he added. "Last night in the center of Seoul on Halloween, a tragedy and disaster that should have never happened occurred."

"I pray that those who died in the incident rest in peace and that those who were injured quickly recover," he said. "I also offer my deep condolences to the bereaved families of the deceased who are grieving the loss of their loved ones."

President Yoon said, "In addition to support for funerals, we will mobilize all emergency medical capacity to promptly give medical support to the injured," adding, "We will thoroughly investigate the cause of the incident and make fundamental improvements to prevent a recurrence of another incident."

"We will order the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and other related ministries to conduct urgent reviews of not just Halloween events but other regional festivals and thoroughly manage them in an orderly and safe manner," he added. "Once again, I express my condolences to those who lost their lives in the unexpected incident and the government will do its best to deal with the aftermath."

Right after releasing his statement, President Yoon visited the Itaewon-dong neighborhood to receive on-site reports from related authorities. He declared Yongsan-gu a special disaster zone and ordered full provision of medical treatment for the injured and funeral support for the deceased.

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President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee on the morning of Oct. 31 visit a mourning altar for the deceased at Seoul Plaza in central Seoul.