Actor Lee Ji-han’s mother describes grief over his death one year after Halloween crush
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Lee Ji-han was among the 159 people who died in the Halloween crowd crush in Itaewon last year.
PHOTO: AFP
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SEOUL – A year after the death of South Korean actor Lee Ji-han
Lee, 24, was among the 159 people who died in the Halloween crowd crush in the nightlife district of Itaewon in Seoul on Oct 29, 2022.
He found fame in 2017 in the second season of reality singing contest Produce 101 and was set to appear in the fantasy-romance drama Kokdu: Season Of Deity (2023).
Madam Cho posted a long note on her son’s Instagram account on his first death anniversary on Sunday.
“Ji-han... this is mum,” she wrote in Korean. “It’s been a year since I saw you.”
Sharing several photos of Lee when he was a child and an adult, she said she could not remember his eyes, even though her memory of him is still vivid.
“No matter how hard I try, I still can’t remember your clear eyes,” she wrote. “Mum is fighting a different kind of despair every day.”
Lee Ji-han (in framed photo) was killed during a Halloween crowd crush in the popular Itaewon district in October 2022.
PHOTO: AFP
Madam Cho said she could not help but imagine the fear and pain Lee felt during his last moments when he lay on the road and waited for help.
She added that she has been visiting the columbarium where his ashes are kept, each time taking the bus and getting off at the 53rd stop.
“I feel like I am carrying a rock in my heart when I walk the 200m to meet you, with the path so unfamiliar and difficult,” she wrote. “Why do I have to travel on this road to meet you?”
Cho Mi-eun (centre) and her husband Lee Jong-chul (left), whose 24-year-old son Lee Ji-han was killed during a Halloween crowd crush in the popular Itaewon district in October 2022, cry as they stand with their daughter Lee Ga-young (right) in front of a cabinet containing the ossuary for Lee Ji-han’s cremated remains during a remembrance ceremony at a charnel house in Goyang on Oct 29, 2023, on the first anniversary of his death.
PHOTO: AFP
She blamed the authorities for the lack of preparations and for failing to respond adequately to the incident. She also vowed to seek answers to the tragedy.
“My anger grows every day with the number of days I have not seen you,” she wrote. “I will try to do everything I can to make sure your death is not in vain.”
