A study on the revision of the “Security Guard Act” and the establishment of 'Congestion Guard' in Japan

Abstract

On October 29, 2022, at around 22:15, a large-scale crushing accident occurred in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, with a crowd of 100,000 gathered ahead of the Halloween festival. This accident is the largest human-caused accident in Korea since the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014, and the first recorded since the collapse of Sampoong Department Store in 1995 in which 502 people died in a large-scale disaster in downtown Seoul. In the process of investigation by the Special Investigation Headquarters, it is pointed out that the police's poor response made the accident bigger as the cause of the Itaewon disaster. However, on July 21, 2001, from 20:45 to 50 p.m., 11 people suffered from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) due to full body compression on the Asagiri Pedestrian Bridge in Akashi City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. A large-scale accident occurred in which 183 people were killed or injured. Japan has experienced many legal and social changes, such as the revision of the “Guard Service Act” and the establishment of a new “congestion guard” work test, in the wake of the stampede accident. In this paper, the background of Japan's 'Akashi Fireworks Festival Overpass Accident', the cause of the accident, the judgment of the court, and the resulting legal and social changes were examined to examine the implications for Korea.