Wounds remain fresh even four years after the deadly crowd crush in central Seoul’s multicultural Itaewon neighborhood. The tragedy claimed the lives of 159 people, mostly young Koreans and including over 25 foreign nationals, who had gathered in a sloped, narrow alley near Hamilton Hotel to celebrate Halloween on Oct. 29, 2022. Nearly 200 others were injured. The festive atmosphere suddenly gave way to collective grief. The tragedy became a watershed moment in the debate over the role of government in public safety. Police received 11 calls warning of the potential danger of surging crowds before the incident, but the warnings went unheeded. Where was the state when people were dying? The Itaewon crowd crush triggered a paradigm shift in how safety is understood. Before the tragedy, safety was often treated as an issue to be addressed through relief and recovery after an accident. In its aftermath, safety has increasingly come to be recognized as a fundamental right, one that entitles people to demand proactive government action to protect the public from preventable disasters. The Fr