Seoul families demand Call of Duty remove real Itaewon crash footage

The creators of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 faced a direct challenge this week from families who lost relatives in the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush. The groups demand the removal of real video from the disaster that appears in the game's opening sequence. The request was made on Wednesday, one day before South Korea marks the fourth anniversary of the tragedy.

The footage lasts only a few seconds. It depicts civilian casualties during a fictional North Korean invasion. One clip shows a person performing CPR on a victim in the street. Another displays rows of bodies on the road and a person being carried on a stretcher. These images were taken from the actual event in a narrow alley in Seoul's Itaewon district.

The original disaster occurred over Halloween weekend in 2022. A total of 158 people died in the crush. Two additional individuals were later recognized as victims after their deaths were linked to trauma from the event. The use of these specific clips has intensified the emotional weight of the game's launch.

A joint statement from the bereaved families' council and a coalition of civic groups described the scenes as chaotic and desperate. The groups noted that countless citizens performed CPR to save one another that night. They stated, "We are appalled that the chaotic and desperate scenes.. were used exactly as they were to create a scene in a game." The groups also noted that witnesses and rescuers are still living with trauma. They reported that hateful comments about the victims have spread online due to the game's premise.

Activision, the publisher, responded through the Yonhap news agency. The company said that actual news footage was used as an element to convey the fictional story. It stated, "We had absolutely no intention of mentioning or treating lightly any actual tragic events, including the Itaewon tragedy." The game follows a South Korean marine private fighting an invasion across recognizable streets.

The title had already become a political topic before launch. Conservative politicians urged President Lee Jae Myung to play the game to understand the threat from Pyongyang. Within days of its release, the game topped South Korea's sales chart on Steam. The Korean Game Users Association has called for an apology and for the footage to be replaced.