South Korea's **Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday (January 30) blocked a bill to launch a new investigation into the 2022 Itaewon Halloween case in Seoul, which was slammed by the opposition and relatives of the victims.
* Yoon Suk-yeol exercised his veto power on the "Special Act on Finding Out the Truth about 129 Itaewon**, Preventing the Recurrence of Similar Accidents, and Protecting the Rights of Victims" passed by the National Assembly on the same day. ** The bill will be sent back to Congress for reconsideration.
South Korean Prime Minister Han Deok-so told the State Council: "The pain caused by the disaster cannot be used as a tool to justify political conflict and the possibility of unconstitutionality." He denied that the earlier investigation by ** and the prosecutor was flawed.
The move was criticized by relatives of the victims and opposition parties, who felt that the disaster had been handled inadequately.
Park Young-so, the mother who lost her son, accused ** of being "stingy" and blocked the investigation by offering financial compensation. "It's not what we've been working on for more than a year," she told reporters. ”
Song Hae-jin, the mother of another victim, said that families who have been trying to get justice for their children will have a hard time accepting the position of **.
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights said last year that South Korea should establish an independent and impartial body to investigate the disaster and ensure that those responsible, including senior officials, are brought to justice.
Song Doo-hwan, chairman of South Korea's National Human Rights Commission, also supported an independent investigation. Lee Jae-myung, the leader of South Korea's Democratic Party, called Yoon Suk-yeol**'s act of blocking the bill "cold-blooded."
*A survey published early last year concluded that inadequate preparation and inadequate response were the main causes of fatal accidents. However, senior ***, including the Minister of the Interior and Security, has yet to resign or be dismissed as a result.