GOV’T SHUNS TERM ‘CRUSHED TO DEATH’

[Anchor Lead]

Now turning to news related to the Itaewon tragedy. Controversy brewed over the government's order to use more objective terms when referring to the tragedy such as "people who died" instead of "victims". This time, it has been found that a decision was made to remove the term 'crushed to death' at a government meeting presided by the South Korean leader. It's been pointed out that the government was more focused on reducing the impact rising on the surface, rather than dealing with the tragedy itself.

[Pkg]

The morning after the Itaewon crowd crush, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters convened an emergency meeting presided by President Yoon. Participants discussed funding for the victims' funerals, the proclamation of a national mourning period, and what to call the disaster. At the meeting, the government decided to remove the term "crushed to death." Later in the afternoon the decision was transmitted via messenger group chat to the officials of relevant institutions who got together to discuss ways to cope with the crowd crush. A senior Health Ministry official said in the message it was the result of a meeting presided by the South Korean leader and asked participants to use the term "Itaewon accident" without using the phrase "crushed to death." The immediate reply was, "Will do." The official says he just conveyed the outcome of the meeting and the goal was to unify report titles. However, some say it was an inappropriate decision, because numerous emergency calls saying people were being crushed to death were made by members of the public on the very day of the tragedy.

[Soundbite] Shin Hyun-young(Parliamentary Probe Committee (DP)) : "We need to find out if the facts behind the tragedy were distorted and the truth was hidden."

When President Yoon visited the site of the tragedy before the meeting, he said the cause of mass deaths in Itaewon was not crushing but concussions.

[Soundbite] Park Hong-keun(Floor Leader, Democratic Party (Nov. 8)) : "Everyone said the deaths were caused by crushing at the time. Do you think it's appropriate to mention concussions as if he had received no reports earlier?"

[Soundbite] Kim Dae-ki(Presidential Chief of Staff (Nov. 8)) : "The hill is too steep."

At approximately the same time when the government decided to exclude the term "deaths by crushing," it also issued instructions to use more objective terms, such as "accident" instead of "disaster" and "people who died" instead of "victims."