Inhyeon-dong Beer Hall Fire

Overview

At about 6:50 p.m. on October 30, 1999, a fire broke out at a construction site for a basement karaoke room in a commercial building in Inhyeon-dong, Jung-gu, Incheon Metropolitan City (near Dong-Incheon Station). The flames and toxic smoke spread up the stairs to "Live II," a beer hall on the second floor, where middle and high school students who had finished school festivals at several nearby schools had gathered for an after-party. Reports differ on the death toll, citing 56 (Kyunghyang Shinmun) or 57 (Kyeonggi Ilbo), and most of the dead were teenagers. About 78 to 80 people were reported injured.

Course of the Fire and Expansion of Damage

The fire is reported to have started when part-time workers playfully set fire to thinner used in the interior renovation of the basement karaoke room, and it then spread to flammable interior materials such as urethane decorative walls. Some reports explain that a lighter's flame ignited thinner vapor. When the fire broke out, the power was cut, and the inside of the beer hall went dark. The windows had been covered with plywood and gypsum board, so people could not escape. Several reports say that employees blocked guests from moving toward the exit in order to collect payment, and that the manager escaped alone. According to reports, about 120 students from 13 schools in the Incheon area were in the beer hall that day, and the blocked escape routes in the cramped interior led to the major disaster.

Unlicensed Operation and Collusion

This beer hall had sold alcohol to young people without an operating license. The actual owner, Mr. Jeong, operated several establishments without licenses under nominal "straw" owners, and investigations revealed that he had given money and gifts to police officers and public officials to avoid crackdowns. According to the results of the prosecution's investigation reported by Kyeonggi Ilbo, 61 people were booked, including 21 police officers (5 arrested), 19 officials from the city and district offices and fire station (4 arrested), and 13 people related to the businesses and construction work. Mr. Jeong went into hiding immediately after the accident, then turned himself in five days later. He was sentenced to five years in prison on nine charges, including professional negligence resulting in death and injury and bribery, and the manager was sentenced to three years and six months in prison. Reports state that 34 people, including business owners, received criminal punishment.

Aftermath and Controversy

Immediately after the accident, some media outlets and segments of society labeled the students who died as "delinquent youths" who had gone to a bar, and the bereaved families and survivors suffered secondary harm. On the other hand, there was strong criticism that the establishment that sold alcohol to the students, and the administrative and police authorities who had tacitly allowed it, bore greater responsibility. In 2000, Jung-gu of Incheon enacted a compensation ordinance, but one student who had died while working part-time at the beer hall was excluded from compensation on the grounds that he was an "employee." This victim was recognized as eligible for compensation 26 years later, in 2026, when Jung-gu revised the ordinance following a recommendation from the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission (Kyunghyang Shinmun). There is an assessment that the commercial district in the Dong-Incheon area declined after the disaster. Together with the in June of the same year, 1999 is remembered as a year in which major fires that claimed young lives occurred one after another.