Lee Jung-mi: "No One Apologizes... Primary Responsibility Lies with Ministry of the Interior, National Police Agency, and Yongsan District Mayor"

"Shocked by Minister Lee Sang-min's Remarks"
"If Left Alone, It Feels Like Secondary and Tertiary Harm Blaming the Participants"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] On the 1st, Lee Jeong-mi, leader of the Justice Party, criticized the Itaewon crush accident, saying, "A major disaster occurred with 155 people dead and more than 140 injured," and added, "We need to investigate and reveal whether the administrative efforts to prevent the accident were sufficient or lacking, but no one has apologized for this accident." She also stated, "The Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the National Police Agency, and the Yongsan District Office head should take primary responsibility."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, Lee appeared on KBS Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strong Current Affairs' in the morning and said, "My conclusion is that this was a preventable man-made disaster."

She emphasized, "It was sufficiently predicted in advance that this crowd would gather, and if personnel had been deployed to secure passageways and at least a one-way traffic directive had been issued, such a major disaster could have been prevented."

Regarding the controversy over Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min's remark that "this was not a problem that could have been solved by pre-deploying police and fire personnel," she said, "I was appalled. The attitude of only trying to avoid responsibility only fuels the anger of the bereaved families and the public and does not help at all in managing the aftermath of the accident," adding, "If such remarks by the minister continue to be left unchecked, it will lead to secondary and tertiary victimization, as if the fault lies with those who participated at the Itaewon site during that period."

Regarding the minister's explanation that his remarks were intended to prevent premature predictions, incitement, or political claims before the exact cause of the accident is known, Lee called it "political evasion of responsibility."

She said, "The minister of the interior and safety is the highest official responsible for the safety of the people's lives and citizens' lives," and criticized, "Then his remarks should start with 'I deeply apologize to the people' for failing to take responsibility for this issue."

She continued, "If talking about 'why this happened and why it was not prevented' is called political incitement, it simply sounds like saying 'Do not question or hold me accountable any further' regarding his responsibility."

Lee pointed out, "There are clearly primary responsible parties," adding, "The head of Yongsan District Office said 'we did everything we could' regarding what happened in his jurisdiction, and the National Police Agency had already warned internally several days ago about the risk of a crowd gathering," but "they are not clearly taking responsibility for this issue."

Addressing the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, she said, "After experiencing the long three years of COVID-19, no-mask events are taking place, and special response and management measures should have been sufficiently prepared for such situations. However, it proceeded in a very indifferent state," emphasizing, "The Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the National Police Agency, and the Yongsan District Office head should take primary responsibility for these aspects."

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