So much for the Visit Korea Year:

At right, relatives of those killed in the Busan shooting gallery fire mourn on their way to a hospital’s mortuary to identify the victims, Sunday. The photo on the left shows a girl group performing during a gala event to celebrate the countdown to the Visit Korea campaign for 2010 to 2012 at Jamsil Gymnasium in southern Seoul, Friday.

A fire Saturday killed 10 people including eight Japanese tourists at an indoor shooting range in Busan, the nation’s second largest city.

By tragic coincidence, on the same day, a gala ceremony was held in Seoul as a pre-celebration for the “Visit Korea Year” campaign for 2010 to 2012.

The two events display the conflict between high hopes and harsh reality. A high-powered cast including first lady Kim Yoon-ok was on hand to celebrate tourism here, but at the same time the most basic necessity of the industry ― safety ― was not even guaranteed. Some critics say that Korea needs to improve safety and other basic necessities rather than holding galas if it wants to draw 10 million tourists annually by 2012, the last year of the campaign.

Police and fire authorities said the fire broke out around 2:25 p.m. and soon ripped through the second-floor shooting range in the five-story building. It took 40 minutes to put down, leaving 10 people, including the eight Japanese, dead and six people, including three more Japanese, injured.

The exact cause of the fire is still being investigated, authorities said.  [Korea Times]

Brian in Jeollanam-do is all over this story so check out what he has to say.

I just think it will be interesting to see what the investigation into the fire uncovers in regards to building safety and if it was at all linked to the high number of casualties.