The families of the victims of the Itaewon disaster ask the special committee to investigate the Minister of Public Administration and Security and the mayor of Seoul. [M피소드]

“It was not a problem that could have been solved by using police or firefighters beforehand.”

In 2022, the day after the October 29 Itaewon disaster, the first words of the Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min were not ‘apology’ but ‘avoidance’.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said, “As the mayor of Seoul responsible for the lives and safety of citizens, I feel an infinite responsibility for this tragedy and I am deeply sorry. he said, “Responsibility is a result of the investigation by the investigation agency.

Last January, about a year and two months later, a total of 21 people were put on trial for the Itaewon disaster following an investigation by police and prosecutors. However, Minister Lee Sang-min and Mayor Oh Se-hoon were cleared of charges without a single call from the police.

On the 15th, ahead of the second anniversary of the accident, the victims’ families asked the Special Investigative Committee to “thoroughly investigate the responsibility of the two instead of the investigative body.”

The bereaved family’s ‘Information Request No. 1’ confirmed by MBC covers 20 pages and calls for a detailed investigation into those who avoided criminal responsibility, including Lee Sang-min and Oh Se-hoon .

The bereaved families first said, “Investigate why the Minister of Public Administration and Security received the report long after the situation was reported to the Disaster Situation and Safety Room of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security from the National Fire Brigade .”

It was discovered that Minister Lee received the first report at 11:15 pm, about an hour after the official disaster occurred at 10:15 pm. After that, Minister Lee waited for about an hour for the driver of his official car, who lives in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, to come to his house in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu. The minister in charge of national disaster and safety management arrived at the disaster site after 1am.

The bereaved families also said, “The Ministry of Public Administration and Security has no on-site measures on the day of the disaster, as revealed in the impeachment trial of Minister Lee, but general and abstract, such as ‘detailed situation management,’ ‘reporting,’ and ‘review,'” and “The operations of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security did not affect the loss of life on the actual day of the disaster.” He also asked, “Please you study the effect of this on reduction. .”

In addition, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security asked them to confirm why they delayed publishing the list of the dead to bereaved families after collecting the bodies on the day of the disaster, and did they properly guide and monitor the safety management plan for local people. festivals before the disaster.

Mayor Oh Se-hoon was criticized for saying, “Although I experienced Halloween in Itaewon in 2021 while in office, I was negligent in preventing and preparing for next year’s Halloween mishaps.

“The Itaewon Halloween event has been held since 2014, and in the past, the city of Seoul prepared alone or cooperated with Yongsan-gu to prepare for a large crowd,” he said. he said for Halloween in 2022. “Please investigate why no action was taken even though there was a problem,” he said.

In particular, he emphasized, “The police are asking the Seoul Metropolitan Police Autonomous Committee to confirm how a report related to the safety of Halloween on October 27 was sent to the mayor of Seoul.”

Regarding Police Commissioner Yoon Hee-geun, who was cleared of charges by the police along with Ministers Oh Se-hoon and Lee Sang-min, we asked them to consider whether he had received any prior report about risk of crowd accidents on Halloween. and did he properly exercise his command authority on the day of the accident.

In addition, the families of the bereaved pointed out that there was no investigation or trial regarding the process and circumstances in which the 158 victims who died on the day of the disaster were handed over to the families they lost people.

The victims were temporarily dispersed to Soonchunhyang University Hospital and temporary morgues on the same day. However, the families who lost people explained that it has not been confirmed to this day how many people were placed in the temporary morgue, how they were placed, and who made the decision to distribute the bodies.

It was also confirmed that the investigation is about how the move of the president’s office to Yongsan affected the Itaewon disaster. The bereaved families criticized that “police security personnel and local government authorities had no choice but to be targeted as a result of the gathering in front of the president’s office.” ”

It is necessary to examine how the police changed the size of their staff in preparation for Halloween before and after the move of the Office of the President.

I also asked the Korea Communications Commission and others to confirm responsibility. “Please take a look at the measures the Korea Communications Commission has taken to prevent insult, defamation, and secondary harm to the victims of the disaster from spreading through the media and on- line. “

Song Ki-chun, chairman of the special investigation committee, took office last September and expressed his desire, saying, “I will ensure that the grievances of the bereaved family and the victims are resolved next year, when the 3rd anniversary of his death will be celebrated. .”

Tomorrow is the second anniversary of the accident.

The next year is likely to be very interesting. A political dispute is expected if Minister Lee Sang-min and Mayor Oh Se-hoon are investigated, and there could be conflict if an investigation is carried out against the Ministry of Public Administration and Security and Government Metropolitan Seoul to recreate the interior narrative. system and the situation at the time.

In a previous interview with MBC, Chairman Song said he would “also look into whether higher government agencies are responsible” for the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of Public Administration and Security.

He also said, “If there is a political draft, it is also the duty of the chairman of the special committee to block it.”

The Special Investigative Committee will appoint investigators and begin full-scale investigative activities as early as the end of this year.