One year and seven months after the Itaewon crowd accident in South Korea, the National Assembly passed a special bill - a step towards uncovering the truth

A special bill to investigate the crowd accident that occurred in October 2022 in Itaewon, a busy shopping district in Seoul, South Korea, was passed at a plenary session of the National Assembly of South Korea on the 2nd of this month.
The bill, which calls for a reinvestigation into the pro-democracy movement, was passed in January this year under the leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea, which holds a majority of seats in the National Assembly, but was vetoed by President Yoon Seok-yeol.
However, on the 1st of this month, the ruling and opposition parties agreed to amend the bill in part. The bill was passed the following day by a majority vote from both the ruling and opposition parties. One year and seven months after the accident, the bill was finally passed.
The accident occurred on October 29, 2017, on the weekend before Halloween, in a crowded street in Itaewon, killing 159 people, including two Japanese. The victims were teenagers.
Many of the victims were young people in their 20s. This incident pointed to a lack of security and inadequate response by the police and fire departments.
Although a large number of people were expected to come to the scene, the number of police officers mobilized for security was small. In addition, several hours before the accident, the police received reports that "there were too many people and I was going to be crushed to death."
Many reports were sent to the police and fire departments, but criticism erupted that the accident was caused by the failure to take appropriate action. In response to the accident, the National Police Agency launched a special investigation headquarters consisting of about 500 people.
The results of the investigation were announced in January last year, and the local government, police, fire department, and other organizations that are legally obligated to take safety precautions and respond to accidents were found to have neglected to take preventive measures against accidents.
As a result of the investigation, police officers were arrested and indicted for insufficient safety measures and responses to reports.
On the other hand, the bereaved family members are opposed to the police's investigation into their own affairs, arguing that the truth cannot be uncovered. They have been working with the opposition parties to enact a special law to uncover the truth of the accident.
The bill calls for the establishment of a special committee to investigate the truth and conduct additional investigations. The government has also included in the bill a statement that "in order to investigate the cause of the accident, the police will set up a special investigation team of over 500 personnel."
"The government has conducted a comprehensive investigation into the matter, made the results public, the prosecution has conducted a supplementary investigation, and the government has responded sincerely to the Diet's national policy investigation," he said, expressing his opposition.
However, because the opposition parties hold a majority in the South Korean National Assembly, the bill was passed in January by the main opposition Democratic Party.
The bill was passed with a majority vote from the Democratic Party. Attention was focused on whether it would pass, but President Yoon vetoed it. The South Korean president has the power to effectively veto bills passed by the National Assembly.
In order to repass a bill that has been rejected, a majority of the senators must be present and two-thirds of the senators present must vote in favor. President Yoon had repeatedly exercised his veto power, which had led to a large drop in his approval rating.
South Korea held a general election on the 10th of last month. The election was contested through single-seat constituencies (254 seats) and proportional representation (46 seats), and was positioned as a "mid-term evaluation" of the Yoon administration.
As a result, the People Power Party won 108 seats and the Democratic Party of Korea won 175 seats, resulting in a major defeat for the People Power Party, which supports President Yoon.
Following the election results, President Yoon's administration, which has been criticized as "self-righteous," is also undergoing a transformation.
On the 29th of last month, President Yoon met with Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, for the first time since the administration was launched in May 2022. Lee spoke about the special law for the Itaewon accident.
The ruling and opposition parties then agreed on the 1st of this month to amend the bill and bring it up at the Diet plenary session the following day.
The committee will be made up of nine members, four of whom will be recommended by the ruling and opposition parties, and one who will be recommended by the Speaker of the National Assembly after discussions between the ruling and opposition parties.
Three of them would be recommended by the Speaker of the National Assembly after consultation with the families of the deceased, etc. The plenary session was held on the 2nd, the day after the agreement was reached, and the bill was passed with a majority of votes from both the ruling and opposition parties.
The South Korean newspaper Hankyoreh reported, "It has been one year and six months since the disaster occurred, and three months since President Yoon exercised his veto.
"This is because the ruling and opposition parties have made concessions one by one and agreed to pass the bill after the special law was discussed at the top-level meeting between President Yoon and Democratic Party leader Lee Jong Un."