Jeong Jinseok Meets Justice Party, Urges “Clarify the Facts in Parliamentary Inquiry”

"Police Inspection and Investigation Must Come First" Repeated Opposition
Justice Party Also Previously Opposed the Complete Prosecution Reform Law
Lee Jeong-mi: "Police Investigation and National Assembly Inquiry Have Different Natures"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Hyun-ji] On the 10th, Jeong Jin-seok, Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, met with Lee Jeong-mi, leader of the Justice Party, and repeatedly expressed opposition to the parliamentary inquiry related to the Itaewon disaster.

After meeting with Lee at the National Assembly that day, Chairman Jeong told reporters, “I raised concerns about the effectiveness of the parliamentary inquiry,” adding, “Currently, the police are conducting inspections and investigations to determine the cause of the accident, and before even hearing the announcement of the first investigation results, holding a parliamentary inquiry could rather hinder clarifying the essence and verifying the facts. That was the basic position I conveyed.”

He emphasized, “I persuaded (Leader Lee) that this is not about avoiding efforts such as a parliamentary inquiry or special prosecutor to uncover the truth, but rather to achieve a more accurate and unquestionable fact-finding.” He added, “I asked them, in line with the Justice Party’s name, to distinguish what is justice and injustice, what is common sense and nonsense.”

He also pointed out, “Isn’t the 검수완박법 (complete prosecution reform law) the one that the Democratic Party forcibly pushed through without the Justice Party’s participation?” He continued, “Due to the 검수완박법, the prosecution no longer has investigative authority over major disasters, so investigations are being conducted solely by the police. The Democratic Party made it this way, so suddenly wanting to hold a parliamentary inquiry without waiting for the police investigation results lacks persuasiveness.”

In response, Leader Lee emphasized the necessity of the parliamentary inquiry, saying, “The two matters (police investigation and parliamentary inquiry) have different natures,” and “Apart from the process of holding judicial responsibility, this is about accurately clarifying the political responsibility of this incident.” The Justice Party, along with the Democratic Party and the Basic Income Party, submitted a request for a parliamentary inquiry the day before.

Leader Lee stated, “Whether or not to hold a parliamentary inquiry itself should not become a political dispute, but if the public wants to know the truth properly and the National Assembly discusses what truth should be uncovered, we should be able to reach an answer before the plenary session.”

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