Opposition: "Yoon's belated apology... We can't understand why he is stingy and hesitant"

Park Hong-geun "Why is President Yoon so reluctant and hesitant to apologize?"

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 Reporter Koo Chae-eun] Park Hong-geun, the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, directly criticized President Yoon Suk-yeol's message regarding the Itaewon crowd crush disaster on the 6th, saying, "I cannot understand why the government and he himself are so reluctant and hesitant to apologize for their successive and clear mistakes."

Park emphasized, "How would the victims, bereaved families, and our people have received President Yoon's belated apology, which was delivered using a eulogy at a religious event?" and added, "The core of an apology is sincerity and timing."

This was a critique of President Yoon's statement on the 4th at Jogyesa Temple in Jongno-gu, Seoul, during the 'Memorial Service for the Souls of the Victims of the Itaewon Disaster,' where he said in his eulogy, "As the president responsible for the lives and safety of the people, I feel deeply sorrowful and apologetic."

On the same day, Park posted on Facebook, stating, "What the Yoon Suk-yeol government truly needs right now is a profound apology and an attitude of taking infinite responsibility." He further explained, "In the face of an unavoidable great disaster, the government cannot apologize officially and repeatedly with all sincerity until the victims, bereaved families, and the people say that it is enough."

He said, "Even though an unimaginable great disaster occurred, the president's first remark was an order to 'improve the system since the accident happened at an event without an organizer.'

He continued, "They do not acknowledge that it was a man-made disaster caused by the government's total incompetence, and seem to be taking the investigation of the disaster as an opportunity to only punish the police, who have usually been out of favor."

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