South Korea’s parliament calls for minister’s dismissal over Halloween crush that killed 156

South Korea’s National Assembly has passed a motion demanding the dismissal of the country’s interior minister Lee Sang-min over the authorities’ preparedness for the Halloween party in Itaewon.

The crowd crush in the popular nightlife district caused an outpouring of public sympathy towards 156 people who lost their life and the 198 who were injured on 29 October.

Most of the victims were in their twenties and thirties and were among an estimated 100,000 people who gathered in the Itaewon party district to celebrate the first post-pandemic Halloween.

Police have since admitted “heavy responsibility” for failures in preventing and responding to the crowd surge, with president Yoon Suk Yeol acknowledging that South Korea lacks studies on crowd management and ordering officials to formulate effective crowd control methods based on high-tech resources such as drones.

The opposition-controlled assembly passed a motion yesterday with the backing from 182 of the 183 parliamentarians who cast the vote demanding the ejection of the interior minister. One vote was declared invalid, while the ruling party refrained from casting their ballot, reported Yonhap News agency.

Despite the mounting pressure, the president is expected to reject the calls, even as the opposition Democratic Party threatened to impeach the minister.

The interior minister later attended a closed-door meeting government meeting with the key officials from the ruling People Power Party, reported the Yonhap News agency, citing sources, signaling at the president’s intent to keep him in office.

Earlier last month, Mr Lee issued an apology in the aftermath of the incident while vowing to find out the cause of the incident to prevent similar cases from happening again.

“As the minister overseeing the safety of the public, I express sincere apologies over the incident,” Mr Lee had said. He added that the government had “limitless responsibility over the safety of our people” as he addressed a parliamentary session televised live.

“It is very sad for me as a father who has a son and daughter… it is difficult to express in words how unreal this situation is, and it is difficult to accept this situation.”