No Casualties
Overview
‘No Casualties’ is a conventional expression used by South Korean media when reporting on various disasters and accidents such as fires, collapses, earthquakes, and traffic accidents. Because reports often conclude with phrases such as “Fortunately, there were no casualties” regardless of the scale of the accident or property damage, it has been criticized as a reporting practice that downplays the seriousness of an incident or emphasizes only incidents without victims. At the same time, the expression also functions as a phrase symbolizing the key information that must first be confirmed in disaster reporting: the question of whether people were injured or killed.
Main Content
Origin and Spread of the Expression
The word “casualties” (inmyeong pihae) in South Korean news reporting took hold in coverage of major accidents during the industrialization period of the 1960s and 1970s. Later, as terrestrial TV news in the 1990s combined with internet portal news in the 2000s, the standardized headline form “○○ Fire, No Casualties” became established in breaking-news style. As competition for breaking news intensified, the practice of repeatedly using the sentence “Fortunately, there are said to be no casualties” at the end of articles without fact-checking also spread.
Contexts of Use
It mainly appears in the following situations.
- Fires and explosions: Breaking news about fires at factories, apartments, traditional markets, etc.
- Natural disasters: Initial damage situations immediately after typhoons, earthquakes, heavy rain, landslides
- Transportation and industrial accidents: Train derailments, flight cancellations, construction site collapses
- Facility failures: Infrastructure accidents such as power outages, communication disruptions, and power plant shutdowns
Here, “casualties” is used as an inclusive concept encompassing deaths and injuries, and is positioned in contrast to property damage and facility damage.
Criticism and Controversy
First, there is the problem of a gap in fact-checking. Even when the scale of damage had not been confirmed in the early stages of an accident, reports would assertively state “No casualties,” only for the claim to be reversed later when deaths or injuries were confirmed; such cases were repeated. Second, there is the problem of hierarchizing damage. It has been pointed out that property damage is lumped together as “fortunate” regardless of its scale, while workers’ injuries, psychological harm, and the suffering of displaced residents are often excluded from “casualties.” Third, there is the problem of formulaic phrasing. Criticism has been raised that the mechanical repetition of the same sentence makes it difficult for readers to grasp the reality of an accident.
Similar and Derived Expressions
Phrases such as “Fortunately, there were no casualties,” “No deaths or injuries,” “No injuries,” and “Casualties being confirmed” are used alongside it. In particular, “being confirmed” is an expression that reveals uncertainty in initial reporting and has sometimes been presented as a reflective alternative to assertive descriptions.
Recent Trends
As disaster reporting guidelines were strengthened in 2024–2025, media outlets are being advised to specify casualty figures together with their sources (fire authorities, police, local governments) and to describe unconfirmed information as “not confirmed.” The Journalists Association of Korea and broadcasters’ disaster reporting rules call for avoiding assertive descriptions such as “No casualties” and for reflecting changes in figures over time. In addition, as AI-based automated breaking-news generation systems are introduced, concerns are growing about the risk that unverified phrases such as “no casualties” will be reproduced indefinitely. Meanwhile, as climate disasters become more routine, criticism is spreading centered on civic groups that the very frame emphasizing “zero casualties” dilutes danger into relief.
Related Topics
- [[Disaster reporting]]
- [[Conventional expressions in South Korean journalism]]
- [[Breaking news competition]]
- [[Fire authorities]]
- [[Disaster reporting guidelines]]
- [[Journalistic ethics]]