He became trapped in the narrow space between the subway carriage and the platform safety door, but the train’s conductor, apparently unaware of this, signaled for the train to depart, leading to his death.

“We’re looking into the exact cause of the accident,” police said.

Seoul Metropolitan Mass Transit Corp., which operates subway lines No. 5-8, expressed condolences over the commuter’s death, adding it is looking into the case to identify what could be done to prevent similar incidents.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, who visited the accident scene in the morning, vowed that the city will come up with thorough measures.

This is the third fatality this year caused by subway screen doors and the sixth overall. Three of the victims were passengers, while the other three were repair staff on duty.

Safety screens on subway platforms were first introduced in Korea in 2004 to prevent accidental falls off the platform onto the track area, suicide attempts and homicides by pushing.

Now, nearly all Seoul stations have them.

Provincial governments are required to install platform screen doors in their subway and train stations by 2017.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)