Opposition: "Stop Blaming the Living, Accept the Disaster Parliamentary Investigation and Special Prosecutor"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, along with other top committee members, is paying tribute at the joint memorial altar for the victims of the Itaewon accident set up at Noksapyeong Station Plaza in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on October 31. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] The Democratic Party of Korea pressured the People Power Party to accept a parliamentary investigation and special prosecutor to uncover the truth and assign responsibility for the Itaewon tragedy.

On the 12th, Seo Yong-joo, deputy spokesperson of the Democratic Party, said at a National Assembly briefing, "We hope the People Power Party will stop blaming the survivors and proceed with a parliamentary investigation and special prosecutor to investigate the truth and identify those responsible for the 10·29 (Itaewon) tragedy."

As circumstances emerged suggesting that the head of the intelligence division at Yongsan Police Station may have taken his own life under pressure from the investigation into his cause of death, the Democratic Party strongly urged the ruling party to accept a parliamentary investigation and special prosecutor instead of relying solely on the police investigation.

Until now, the Democratic Party has demanded the dismissal or resignation of Police Chief Yoon Hee-geun, Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, who is in charge of disaster response, and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo. They argue that the government is engaging in "scapegoating" by shifting the responsibility for the disaster response solely onto the police and fire authorities without investigating the responsibility of the "upper echelons."

Deputy spokesperson Seo criticized, "The People Power Party still refuses the parliamentary investigation and special prosecutor, but the police special investigation headquarters is ignoring the upper echelons and only harassing frontline public officials." He added, "Is this what the People Power Party calls uncovering the truth? The ruling party, which claimed it would be the people's strength, is instead ignoring the voices of the people, which is petty."

The Democratic Party plans to secure momentum for enforcing the parliamentary investigation by intensively carrying out a nationwide signature campaign that began the previous day at Yeouido Station in Seoul. On the same day in the afternoon, the Democratic Party's Seoul City Party held a signature campaign at Yongsan Station. The Democratic Party intends to organize necessary teams not only in the Seoul City Party but also in each city and provincial party to expand the signature campaign nationwide.

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