Controversy Over Releasing 'Victim List' Without Consent, Democratic Party Keeps Distance... Ruling Party Says "We Are Angry"

Jung Jin-seok "Whose List Disclosure Is This For?" Points to Democratic Party as Behind
Jo Eung-cheon "List Disclosure? Lee Jae-myung's Personal Opinion... No Party-Level Discussion"
Kang Hoon-sik "Consent Should Have Been Obtained... But We Need to Consider Why It Happened"

The online media outlet with a pro-China inclination, 'Mindeulle,' disclosed the list of victims of the Itaewon tragedy without the consent of the bereaved families. Due to the families' objections, some names were removed from the list. / Screenshot from Mindeulle homepage

On the 13th, a volunteer is organizing chrysanthemums and memorial messages left by citizens on the sidewalk in front of the Itaewon disaster site in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Pro-prosecutor online media outlets 'Mindeulle' and 'The Tam-sa' have sparked controversy by disclosing the names of the victims of the Itaewon tragedy without the consent of the bereaved families. They argued that keeping the victims' names anonymous actually diminishes the tragedy, calling it the "politicization of disaster." The People Power Party criticized this as "secondary harm" and pointed to the Democratic Party of Korea as being behind the disclosure. The Democratic Party, which has advocated for the necessity of disclosure based on the consent of the bereaved families, has remained tight-lipped. However, some within the party have expressed the view that disclosing the list without family consent was inappropriate.

On the 14th, Mindeulle published the names of 155 victims who died in the Itaewon tragedy on its website. As of the 15th, the total number of victims is 158, but the disclosed list only included 155 as of the 31st of last month. However, Mindeulle added a notice stating, "the names of about 10 bereaved families who did not wish to disclose were removed from the list." Accordingly, 10 names on the list show only the surname with the given name as 'OO,' or both surname and given name as 'OOO.'

Mindeulle stated, "When a major disaster occurs, government authorities and the media have traditionally disclosed lists containing the basic personal information of the deceased to the public, but in the case of the Itaewon victims, non-disclosure has been maintained," adding, "This is closely related to the attitude of the government and ruling party, who have persistently avoided responsibility and tabooed discussions of accountability since the accident, despite it being a clear human-made (人災) and administrative disaster."

They continued, "Trying to diminish the impact by continuing to bury the victims in the shadow of anonymity is precisely the politicization and political engineering of the disaster," and "The fact that there is only the number '158' without even names to call out means that the subjects of mourning are completely abstracted." They also added, "We deeply apologize for not being able to obtain the consent of the bereaved families even though we only disclosed the names."

Criticism has come not only from the ruling party but also from opposition parties regarding the arbitrary disclosure of the victim list. Previously, the Democratic Party had argued for the necessity of disclosing the Itaewon tragedy victims' names based on the consent of the bereaved families. On the 9th, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung said at the Supreme Council meeting, "In what tragedy does the whole nation pay respects and mourn without names or faces?" and "Unless the bereaved families oppose, the names and portraits should naturally be disclosed and sincere mourning should take place."

The People Power Party identified the Democratic Party as the party responsible for disclosing the victim list. On the 15th, Emergency Response Committee Chairman Jeong Jin-seok wrote on Facebook, "Democratic Party's disclosure of the Itaewon victims' list, who is this for?" and "I am outraged by the unilateral disclosure of the victim list without the consent of the bereaved families. It inflicts wounds on the families' pain again. Legal action is necessary."

Other opposition parties besides the Democratic Party also joined the criticism. Justice Party leader Lee Jeong-mi said on Facebook, "It is tragic. As repeatedly stated, the Justice Party strongly regrets the disclosure of the list without the consent of the bereaved families," and "the disclosure of the victim list is a matter for the bereaved families to decide, not for politicians or the media to take the lead," she pointed out.

The Democratic Party leadership has remained reserved regarding the list disclosure by Mindeulle and The Tam-sa. However, some within the party stated that the Democratic Party did not lead the disclosure. On the 15th, Representative Jo Eung-cheon appeared on SBS's 'Kim Taehyun's Political Show' and said, "There has been no discussion at the Democratic Party level that it is appropriate to disclose this," adding, "Even Lee Jae-myung, the party leader, spoke about this on a personal level, not on behalf of the party." He also said, "I understand that the party has consistently maintained the position that disclosure without the consent of the bereaved families is unacceptable," and "If the families consent, who would object to disclosing the list and portraits?"

On the same day, Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Hoon-sik said in an interview with KBS's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strong Current Affairs,' "Basically, I think it is absolutely right to disclose after obtaining the consent of the bereaved families." However, he added, "We also need to consider why the media did that. Since there are suspicions that the government tried to downplay and conceal this issue from the beginning, I think the media found out in that way."

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