The world Parents who lost their children during the Halloween celebrations in Seoul last October are reacting strongly to the fact that the Constitutional Court believes that there is no reason to impeach the Minister of the Interior. Photo: Yonhap / AP / NTB Read more Close
NTB
25 July 2023 11:41 – Updated 25 July 2023 11:41
South Korea’s highest court has decided that the country’s interior minister will not face impeachment proceedings related to the Halloween celebration that ended in disaster last year.
Many South Koreans have blamed the minister for a total of 159 people losing their lives when a Halloween celebration got out of control in Seoul last year.
Tuesday’s decision led to strong reactions among parents who lost their children in the tragedy. Two mothers who were present in court broke down and had to be taken away in ambulances, an eyewitness told Reuters.
In February, the National Assembly voted to impeach Interior Minister Lee Sang-min. They asked him to take responsibility for the disaster that occurred when too many people crowded into the narrow streets of one of Seoul’s nightlife areas.
Many of those who were crushed to death were young people.
But the Constitutional Court believes that Lee cannot be blamed for what happened.
“This catastrophic event was not due to a single cause or person,” said one of the judges, Lee Jong-seok, when the decision was announced.
The court determines that the minister made inappropriate comments about how the disaster happened, but that this is not enough to impeach him. The decision was unanimous.
2023-07-25 09:41:10
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