From breaking news alerts to survivors’ stories to an examination of what led to the Seoul tragedy, AP journalists deliver standout coverage in all formats.
When word broke Saturday night that a crushing crowd surge had killed dozens in a Seoul nightlife district where tens of thousands were attending a Halloween celebration, an all-formats AP team responded urgently to one of the nation’s worst disasters. More than 150 people died.
Speed and depth of coverage won the day, as AP beat rival agencies and even Korean media with live video, news alerts, photos and sourced video.
Photographer Jin-man Lee was the first to secure a crucial overhead position at the scene. In the streets of Itaewon below, people performed CPR on the dying and carted bodies to ambulances.
Video journalist Yong-ho Kim beat a major AP competitor to the neighborhood, where he and fellow video journalist Yong Jun Chang set up series of live shots providing first video. Senior producer Jung Yoon Kim, working on no sleep, eventually handled about two dozen video edits as well as the live streams.
Injured people are treated on the street in the Itaewon district of Seoul, South Korea, early Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022. More than 150 people died after being crushed in a surging crowd during Halloween festivities attended by tens of thousands in the capital.
AP Photo / Lee Jin-man
Rescue workers, firefighters and police officers stand by in Seoul, South Korea, early Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022, at the scene where more than 150 people were killed in a crush of people crowding into a narrow street during Halloween festivities in the capital.
AP Photo / Lee Jin-man
Debris lies near the scene in Seoul, South Korea, early Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022, where more than 150 people were killed in a surging crowd attending Halloween festivities.
AP Photo / Ahn Young-joon
A parent of a victim collapses to the floor of a community service center in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022, after a crush of people attending Halloween celebrations in the capital left more than 150 people dead overnight.
AP Photo / Ahn Young-joon
A man bows to pay tribute for victims near the scene of a tragic incident in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022, following a deadly crowd surge during overnight Halloween festivities.
AP Photo / Ahn Young-joon
Two days after a deadly crowd surge during Halloween festivities, mourners pay silent tribute for victims at a memorial altar in Seoul Square in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 31, 2022.
AP Photo / Ahn Young-joon
In Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 31, 2022, a Buddhist monk bows to pay tribute to victims crushed in a deadly crowd surge during Halloween festivities two nights earlier.
AP Photo / Lee Jin-man
Mourners pay tribute at Seoul Square in Seoul, South Korea, Oct, 31, 2022, to victims crushed in a deadly crowd surge during Halloween festivities two nights earlier.
AP Photo / Ahn Young-joon
the scene of a deadly crowd surge that left more than 150 people dead during Halloween festivities two nights earlier.
AP Photo / Lee Jin-man
In Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 31, 2022, a man kneels to bow in the middle of the narrow street where a crush of people attending Halloween festivities left more than 150 people dead.
AP Photo / Lee Jin-man
Mourners gather Oct. 31, 2002 at a memorial altar for victims of a deadly crowd surge during Halloween festivities two nights earlier.
AP Photo / Lee Jin-man
Mourners weep at a memorial altar in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 1, 2022, after paying tribute to the victims of a deadly crowd surge during Halloween festivities three nights earlier.
AP Photo / Lee Jin-man
Near the scene of a deadly crowd surge three nights earlier, people weep as they pay tribute, Nov. 1, 2022, to victims crushed during Halloween festivities in Seoul, South Korea.
AP Photo / Ahn Young-joon
Shoes collected at the scene of a deadly crowd surge three nights earlier are displayed at a temporary lost-and-found center in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 1, 2022. Police assembled more than a ton of personal objects left by victims and survivors of the tragedy, in hopes that the owners, or their friends and family, will retrieve them.
AP Photo / Lee Jin-man
As the scale of tragedy grew, text staff, including reporters Hyung-jin Kim and Tong-hyung Kim, were also ahead of Korean and international agencies with a series of alerts on the soaring death toll.
Meanwhile, staffers across Asia and in London sought out user-generated video and photos. Seoul office manager Jee-won Jeong and entertainment correspondent Juwon Park pitched in with reporting, along with Southeast Asia News Director Kiko Rosario in Bangkok.
Local South Korean media took note of AP’s coverage, which sought to explain not only what happened, but how and why. The reporting explored why two-thirds of the victims were young women, the multicultural flavor of the Itaewon neighborhood where the tragedy unfolded, criticism over how a nation that sends thousands of police to deal with protests could have failed to protect young revelers, and the horrifying minutes thousands spent in the crush of people.
The impressive work played heavily in global media. In the U.S. alone, the Los Angeles Times, which covers the biggest Korean-American community in the U.S., led with a photo by Seoul chief photographer Young-joon Ahn; CNN also used multiple AP photos, while video picked up by AP led the The New York Times home page.
For fast, comprehensive breaking news coverage in all formats, the team of Hyung-jin Kim, Tong-hyung Kim, Jung Yoon Kim, Yong-ho Kim, Yong Jun Chang, Young-joon Ahn and Jin-man Lee earns AP’s Best of the Week — Second Winner honors.
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