South Korea: the K-pop actor and singer who died in the stampede in Seoul

The authorities of South Korea confirmed in the last hours that one of those who died in the human stampede in the Itaewon neighborhood during the celebrations of Halloween Weekend in Seoul is a renowned K-pop actor and singer.

This is Lee Ji Han, 24 years old, who died in the events that occurred on Saturday when tens of thousands of people crowded into a steep alley no more than three meters wide in the South Korean capital.

Look: The testimony of a Mexican survivor of the Seoul tragedy: “I couldn’t expand my lungs”

Witnesses recounted scenes of chaos on Saturday night as people pushed through, with no police on site to guide the crowd. Hundreds of people were trapped, some for over an hour, and as a result many, most of them were 20-year-old women, suffocated to death.

Authorities collect evidence in the area of ​​the tragedy in Seoul. (Bloomberg/)

Who was Lee Ji Han?

Ji Han, 24, became famous in 2017 when he participated in the second season of ‘Produce 101′, a program in which 101 members compete for 11 spots to form a K-pop group.

After passing through this program, Ji Han jumped into the world of acting and starred in the series Today Was Another Nam Hyun Day.

His passing was confirmed by various colleagues of Ji Han and later by the entertainment agencies that represented him: 935 Entertainment and 9ato Entertainment.

#Itaewon The 24-year-old actor Lee Ji Han, who had participated in Produce 101 season 2, is one of the fatal victims. Korean media report. pic.twitter.com/VzGuKHCtS0

— Jini (@JiniChannel) October 30, 2022

“We also hoped that it wasn’t true, but it is true that Lee Ji Han died in the Itaewon accident. We were very surprised to hear the news,” 935 Entertainment told South Korean media.

Some of his colleagues like Park Hee Seok or Kim Do Hyun were the first to send their condolences and confirm the death of the South Korean star.

The agency 935 also published a farewell message for the actor and singer.

“Actor Lee Jihan, a valued member of the 935 Entertainment and 9 Ato Entertainment family, has become a star in the sky and left us. We would like to express our deepest condolences to the family members who are in deep pain due to the sudden death of the actor (…) who was a sweet and warm friend to all.”

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A post shared by 935엔터테인먼트 (@935entertainment)

Ji Han was going to be part of a new South Korean drama called Kkokdu’s Gye Jeol, whose filming was suspended after learning of his death. According to the Soompi website, Ji Han had been filming recently, so there are several scenes of his character that were not filmed. The actor’s burial, according to South Korean media, will be this November 1st.

The tragedy in Seoul already leaves a balance of 154 people dead and 33 people in serious condition. Another 116 people have less serious injuries.

Bodies recovered after the tragedy in Seoul. (AFP/)

Practically all the fatalities have been identified, and among them there is a majority of women (98), most of them between 20 and 30 years old, and 26 citizens with foreign passports.

They are people of Iranian (5), Chinese (4), Russian (4), Japanese (2), American (2) nationalities, as well as an Uzbek, a Sri Lankan, a French, an Australian, a Norwegian, a Thai , an Austrian, a Vietnamese and a Kazakh.

The moments of panic that were lived

And it is that several people present at the scene recounted the moments of anguish they experienced, including Juliana Velandia Santaella, a 23-year-old medical student who is on an exchange in South Korea.

Velandia reported how she was trapped in the alley where the melee happened for at least 30 minutes without being able to move a muscle from her neck down and barely able to breathe.

”We walked a few meters, turned left and everything happened in the alley. I was at the top of the slope. Y we all start to fall down. They started to push us, to push, to push and they didn’t stop”, he recalled about the moment they tried to reach the main avenue of the neighborhood through the alley where everything happened.

“At one point they began to push us so much that I lost sight of her (my partner). She no longer knew where she was. They started crushing my entire chest and I couldn’t expand my lungs and I couldn’t breathe,” she added.

My feet were no longer touching the ground, there were already bodies under me. There was a boy who was unconscious and he was crushing me and my legs were getting so crushed that I stopped feeling them. I swore at one point that I was going to lose my legs, that they were going to break them… That I would never be able to move them again, ”he told Efe.

Floral offerings to the victims of the tragedy in Seoul. (Bloomberg/)

She and her friend, also Mexican, were able to be rescued from the alley, but now face physical and emotional consequences.

Many businesses in the neighborhood remained closed this Monday, displaying signs explaining that they will not operate until the end of the week-long national mourning that has been declared and will end on Saturday.

In addition, people continued to place flowers and messages of tribute to the victims at the nearest subway station to the alley where the event took place and where some monks sang Buddhist prayers.

Source: Elcomercio