Decade of safety lapses leaves Korea facing record number of public emergencies

Korea grappled with its most turbulent year in terms of public safety crises in a decade, with a government report released Sunday detailing 39 major incidents nationwide in 2024. The grim milestone underscores a 10-year high in the frequency of large-scale emergencies caused by people and systemic failures. The disasters caused 250 deaths, injured 967 people and left 16 missing, bringing the total number of casualties to 1,233. Property damage reached 131.09 billion won ($88.5 million), the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said in its annual disaster yearbook. Social disasters are defined as incidents requiring a national or local government response, including fires, structural collapses, explosions, crowd crushes, aviation accidents, disruptions to critical infrastructure and the spread of infectious diseases. The frequency of large-scale accidents rose roughly 22 percent from 32 cases in 2023. Despite the rise in incidents, the number of deaths dropped sharply from 2023, declining by 3,215. Authorities attributed the decrease largely to the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic, which s