National Audit, Final Push Ahead of Plenary Session Vote

Park Hong-geun "Special Investigation Unit also subject to Itaewon disaster state audit"
Joo Ho-young "Budget must be passed first, then state audit"

[Asia Economy Reporters Oh Ju-yeon, Geum Bo-ryeong] The ruling and opposition parties, which reached a final agreement on conducting a national investigation into the Itaewon disaster, held their first meeting on the 24th. Although the parties reached a sudden agreement after much difficulty the previous day, disagreements remained over the scope of the investigation. The opposition expressed their intention to include the Special Investigation Unit of the police, while the ruling party stated that there would be no further negotiations. The ruling and opposition parties plan to adopt the national investigation plan at the plenary session in the afternoon.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Park Hong-geun, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, mentioned the police Special Investigation Unit, which was excluded from the investigation targets, during the policy coordination meeting on the 24th, saying, "We will mobilize all possible measures within the scope allowed by law for a thorough fact-finding without any sanctuary, punishment of those responsible, and prevention of recurrence." According to the agreement reached by the ruling and opposition parties the previous day, the national investigation targets excluded the Presidential Security Service, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Personnel Management, and the police Special Investigation Unit from the originally mentioned 21 institutions proposed by the three opposition parties.

Floor leader Park criticized, "The police Special Investigation Unit’s investigation into the Itaewon disaster remains at the tail end without even touching the core." He added, "Yesterday, the Special Investigation Unit announced that it had additionally booked nine people, including the former head of the Yongsan Police Station 112 Situation Room, the deputy mayor of Yongsan District, and the on-site command team leader of the Yongsan Fire Station. The accountability has been focused only on frontline workers, while investigations into the command line and higher-ups responsible for the disaster have all stalled." He emphasized, "I hope the Special Investigation Unit does not forget that it is also a subject of the Itaewon disaster national investigation."

Seo Young-kyo, a Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party, also appeared on YTN Radio’s ‘News King with Park Ji-hoon’ on the same day, pointing out the exclusion of the Security Service and Ministry of Justice from the investigation targets, and mentioned the need for renegotiation, saying, "If something deemed necessary arises during the national investigation, it must be investigated."

Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the People Power Party, said at the emergency committee meeting held at the National Assembly in the morning, "I hope the budget bill is passed first, and then the national investigation takes place." He also emphasized the ‘inevitability’ of the current agreement and indicated that there would be no further concessions. He said, "Please understand that this was an unavoidable agreement because there was no way to block the one-sided national investigation by the three opposition parties, and the budget must be passed within the legal deadline." He added, "I hope the national investigation will not devolve into political strife or exaggerated partisan propaganda as it did before, but will be a thorough investigation that establishes a system to prevent recurrence."

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