In a disturbing trend, children in South Korea are turning the tragic October 29 stampede that killed 158 people in the capital Seoul during the Halloween festival into a game. There has been a sharp increase in trending posts with the hashtags “Itaewon Game” or “Itaewon Crush Game” on social media platforms popular among teenagers, such as TikTok.
The game involves numerous school kids lying on top of each other to form a stack, and the one on the bottom wins based on how many people he or she can endure on top of their body.
The same game has been around for over a decade in South Korea under several names such as the Pass-out Challenge, Hamburger Game, and Sandwich Game. The Itaewon tragedy, in which 158 people were killed in one of Seoul’s greatest stampedes, has given it a new name and enhanced its popularity. Children in South Korean elementary, middle, and high schools have now renamed the game “The Itaewon Game,” and they are playing it with renewed enthusiasm by mimicking the disaster.
Talking about the game, one middle school student in Seoul said, “The video of the tragedy spread through social media, so this ‘Hamburger Game’ is now being played as if to mimic the Itaewon tragedy.” A high school student from Seoul shared the details of the game and said, “The kids move all the desks and chairs to the side, and they play the game of squishing one kid by having ten people on top of them. This is done every break time. I was really shocked to see that kids would play the ‘Hamburger Game’ and call it the Itaewon Crush Game.”
Other students posted on social media as well, saying, “When we are getting lunch, kids shout ‘Push, push’ and mimic the Itaewon tragedy. A group of kids picks on a student by crushing them with the ‘Hamburger Game’ as to bully them.”
Meanwhile, as the game that imitates the tragedy of the Itaewon stampede is gaining popularity in South Korea, parents have raised concerns that it may become yet another form of bullying that could lead to fatalities. Notably, in the year 2011, a middle school student was allegedly killed while playing this game after being crushed by a group of students who were intentionally playing the game to bully the student.
On November 8, the Korean Association of Teachers of Media Literacy (Katom) issued disaster media use recommendations for teachers and the general public.
“If children and teenagers play a game mimicking an incident, there is a high risk that it will lead to a big safety-related accident as they are not properly aware of the risk,” the association said.
Some experts opined that students need to be guided on how to react to public catastrophes. “Perverse actions like the Hamburger Game spread among teenagers via social media or other media outlets. We should educate students to grow critical thinking skills,” said Lee Chang Ho, a senior researcher at the National Youth Policy Institute.
Stampede during Halloween in Seoul, South Korea left 158 people dead
On Saturday night (October 29), one of the bloodiest stampedes in South Korean history occurred in Seoul. According to reports, over 100,000 people congregated in the Itaewon district’s narrow alleyways to celebrate Halloween. People sought to escape the suffocating mob trapped in the narrow, sloping road but ended up stacking on top of one another, leading to the disaster.
The accident killed 158 people and injured many more. By October 30, Seoul authorities had received 355 reports of missing people.
Multiple videos had surfaced on social media which showed bystanders providing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) to the victims. Dead bodies of victims were seen placed side-by-side on the edge of the road.
Following the tragedy, national mourning was declared on Sunday (October 30) by President Yoon Suk Yeol who ordered South Korean flags to be raised at half-mast in public offices and government buildings.
