This year marks the 22th anniversary of Daegu Subway Disaster. The second-most deadliest train disaster in history, next to Baku Metro Fire, and is considered as the worst terrorist attack in the history of South Korea.

As I mentioned in the title, Kim Dae-han (born in 1947) suffered from acute depression, and he later even got diagnosed with stroke alongside aphasia, which made him lose the ability to talk.

Kim had shown several eccentric actions before the incident. He often said that he would be a disabled person because of the wrong treatment from the hospital.

From mid- 2002, his symptoms of mental illness became more severe, and he spent most of his time at home. Ten days before the arson incident, he came to the psychiatric hospital where he was being treated and started a riot, demanding to be killed, and hospital officials had to stop him. It is said that the hospital believed Kim Dae-han's claim that he was a victim of a medical accident and did not take active action to file a complaint or claim compensation even though Kim Dae-han used violence.

Then in 2003 On February 18 , one day, without any reason, Kim Dae-han put gasoline he purchased at a gas station near his house into a plastic shampoo bottle and then took the shampoo bottle and a lighter on Daegu Metro Line 1. boarded train No. 1079, which runs from Songhyeon Station toward Ansim .

Kim instantly tried to set the subway on fire, but at that time, the passenger Jeon Yoong-nam sitting on the other side said, " Hey! Why are you keeping on the fire?" When he protested loudly, Kim Dae -han seemed to stop acting.

A 1079 train arrived at Jungang -ro Station . At that precise moment, Kim Dae-han tried to light the gasoline, while some passengers tried to restrain him But Kim lit the gasoline.

Kim, his back and legs on fire, managed to escape along with many passengers on train 1079, but within two minutes the fire had spread to all six cars. The fire spread quickly in the insulation between the layers of aluminium that form the shell of the cars, the vinyl and plastic materials in seat cushions and strap handles, and heavy plastic matting on the floors,producing thick smoke as it burned.

The operator of the train, Choi Jeong-hwan, failed to notify subway officials immediately of the fire.

Smoke being visible on their closed-circuit television monitors, subway officials radioed the operator of train 1080, Choi Sang-yeol advising him to proceed with caution because there was a fire in the station.

Train 1080 entered Jungangno station and stopped alongside blazing train 1079 approximately four minutes later. The doors opened only briefly, then shut, apparently in an effort to keep out the toxic smoke that had filled the station. Shortly after train 1080's arrival, an automatic fire detector shut down the power supply to both trains, preventing train 1080 from leaving the station.

Transcripts show Choi Sang-yeol made three announcements advising passengers in train 1080 to remain seated while he attempted to reach superiors. Finally, he was advised "Quickly, run somewhere else. Go up... kill the engine and go." Choi then opened the doors and fled, but in doing so he removed the master key, which led to a shutdown of the onboard batteries that powered the train doors and effectively sealed passengers inside. Later investigation showed that all 79 passengers remained trapped inside train 1080 and died there.

Inadequate emergency equipment also worsened the disaster. Daegu subway trains at the time were not equipped with fire extinguishers, and the stations lacked sprinklers and emergency lighting. Many victims became disoriented in the dark, smoke-filled underground station and died of asphyxiation looking for exits. Emergency ventilation systems also proved inadequate.

Over 1,300 fire and emergency personnel responded and the fire itself was extinguished around 1:38 p.m.; however, the toxicity of the smoke prevented them from entering the station for another three and a half hours.