[Itaewon Disaster] Yeo Namyounghee of the Opposition Blames Yoon, Ruling Party Calls It "Not Worth Commenting"

Ahead of Halloween, on the 30th, President Yoon Seok-yeol visited the Itaewon area in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, where a large-scale crush disaster occurred, and inspected the site. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Nam Young-hee, Deputy Director of the Democratic Research Institute of the Democratic Party of Korea, claimed that the Itaewon Halloween accident was "due to President Yoon Suk-yeol's relocation of the Blue House," but the ruling party dismissed it as "a statement not even worth commenting on."

Yang Geum-hee, Chief Spokesperson of the People Power Party, said this to reporters immediately after the emergency committee meeting on the 30th.

On the same day, Deputy Director Nam posted on her social network service (SNS), "The root cause of all this lies with the security personnel concentrated at the Yongsan Ministry of National Defense Presidential Office," adding, "It is a major disaster caused by the hasty and forced relocation of the Blue House. It is because of the rare president Yoon Suk-yeol who still commutes from Acrovista in Seocho-dong." This post has since been deleted.

Spokesperson Yang reported that voices calling for an end to political strife were raised during the meeting. He said, "We discussed whether political strife should be stopped at least during this period. It doesn't seem like something we can do alone, and I believe the Democratic Party will also participate," adding, "There was a message to do our best to prevent political strife triggered by rumors related to the accident."

Regarding this, he also expressed willingness to meet with the Democratic Party leadership to discuss countermeasures together. Yang said, "We are fully willing to do so," and added, "If a task force (TF) within the party is needed to handle the accident response, we will form one, and if that TF needs to join forces with the opposition party leader, we are open to all possibilities."

During the emergency committee meeting that day, the party's response to the accident was also discussed. He explained, "We announced the suspension of all local party association events and asked party members to cooperate in comforting the bereaved families and ensuring thorough accident response during the national mourning period declared by the president."

Regarding plans to visit the accident site and bereaved families, he said, "There is concern that if members of the National Assembly visit, it might rather hinder the recovery efforts," adding, "If it does not interfere with the recovery, we will look for what we can do."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.