Opposition: "Itaewon Disaster, 'Self-Investigation' Not Acceptable... Demand for State Audit Request to Be Submitted and Processed in Plenary Session"

Park Hong-geun "Submission of State Audit Request... Must Be Processed at Next Week's Plenary Session"

Park Hong-geun, the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the policy coordination meeting held at the National Assembly on the 3rd and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the policy coordination meeting held at the National Assembly on the 3rd and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Koo Chae-eun and Park Joon-yi] Park Hong-geun, the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated on the 3rd, "We will promptly submit a request for a national investigation to uncover the truth of the Itaewon crowd crush disaster and to punish those responsible."

At the policy coordination meeting that day, Floor Leader Park said, "The public outrage has surpassed the critical point to entrust the government under investigation with a 'self-investigation.' We can no longer tolerate a situation where those under investigation conduct the investigation themselves and those who should be judged bear no responsibility."

He directed his remarks to President Yoon Seok-yeol, demanding, "Regardless of the national investigation and police investigation, since the responsibilities of Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min and Commissioner General of the National Police Agency Yoon Hee-geun have already become clear, immediately dismiss them."

Floor Leader Park criticized, "It has become evident that the Itaewon disaster was a man-made tragedy caused by the total incompetence of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration. It is truly shameless how this administration tries to hide behind the false shield that the cause of the disaster was due to institutional shortcomings."

He added, "There are more than enough reasons for a national investigation, including careless police personnel deployment, inadequate response to 112 emergency calls, delayed reporting, and civilian surveillance. We will reveal every single minute and second when the state abandoned its people through a thorough national investigation without exception."

He continued, "Since the ruling party also insists on a thorough investigation of the causes, there should be no reason to oppose it. If the People Power Party agrees, we are willing to jointly submit the national investigation request with the Justice Party. However, for a swift truth-finding process, the request must be processed at next week's plenary session."

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