‘We will not accept any compensation’: bereaved families of Itaewon tragedy
Victims’ families cry foul over presidential veto on special act for investigation
Four hundred and sixty days ago, Lee Sung-ki lost his son, Dong-min, to the tragic crowd crush in Seoul’s Itaewon during a Halloween celebration.
Dong-min, a 180-centimeter tall, fourth-dan taekwondo black belt holder, was a loving son and grandchild who used to give money to his grandmother from his salary every month. However, the elderly woman is still unaware of her eldest grandchild’s death because Lee, who still cannot understand exactly why and how Dong-min died, keeps it a secret from her.
“I’m ashamed to call myself a father,” Lee said in front of his son’s portrait photo at the memorial altar set up in front of Seoul City Hall, Tuesday. “My mom has no idea that her grandson died. She thinks he’s traveling overseas, because I couldn’t tell her the truth. I just can’t.”
Hoping to understand what caused the tragedy, he and members of other bereaved families stayed at the memorial altar for the past year, staging hunger strikes and demonstrations.
This winter, they braved freezing weather and held hours-long reverent marches to the presidential office and the National Assembly multiple times, urging the enactment of a special act aimed at investigating the tragedy that took 159 lives.
He collapsed in resentment when President Yoon Suk Yeol rejected the act and offered compensation and a support plan for the families, Tuesday. He grabbed the gate of the Government Complex Seoul during the Cabinet meeting which decided to call on the National Assembly to reconsider the investigation act, and cried in anger until he lost his voice.
“We are not asking for money. We can live without money,” Lee said. “All I want is to find out why our kids died from a disaster like this. Don’t buy us out with money, just do us some justice.”
Shin Ji-hyun, the mother of the late Kim San-ha who was there with Lee, said the news of Yoon’s veto broke her heart.
Yoon’s approval to reconsider the act convinced her that “they (the government) must be so scared of us,” she expressed. Tearfully, she added, “They’re so frightened that they keep hiding and insisting unreasonably… but please, I wish people won’t use us politically and look at things for what they are. It’s so unfair for us and our children.”
The victims’ families believe the government, which, according to the group, has never communicated with them regarding the victims’ memorial and investigation, ended up silencing them “in the most humiliating way,” by offering compensation.
“This administration has no blood or tears. We asked, begged, and pleaded for this past year (to ascertain the truth), but the government killed us again today (Tuesday) with the veto,” said Lee Jeong-min, the head of the family group.
“The government didn’t consider us as its people, so we will no longer consider this as our government.”
According to the government, the special act, driven by the opposition, undermines constitutional principles by granting extensive authority to the investigation committee, which “would waste administrative power and resources without a justifiable cause and practical use and deepen social division and distrust.”
However, such investigative powers, including the authority to issue orders for accompanying individuals or request searches and seizures, have been given to similar independent investigation committees, such as the one for the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster, the family group argues.
The Yoon administration plans to offer the victims’ families “substantial” compensation and support, which they have no intention of accepting. “We will discuss nothing other than the special act and establishing an investigation committee,” the leader of the family group said.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee noted last November that the country failed to thoroughly investigate the Itaewon disaster and recommended establishing an independent body to uncover the truth and punish those in high-ranking positions who are found responsible.
As Yoon’s veto attracts mounting criticism from opposition parties, the family group plans to appeal to lawmakers to pass the bill once more.
“Ascertaining the truth, that is our one and only dream. And we won’t stop until our dream comes true. It will come true,” Shin said.