South Korea’s opposition-controlled parliament on Wednesday voted to impeach the country’s interior and safety minister, Lee Sang-min, holding him responsible for government failures in disaster planning and the response that likely contributed to the high death toll in a crowd crush that killed nearly 160 people in October.
The impeachment suspends Lee from his duties and the country’s Constitutional Court has 180 days to rule on whether to unseat him for good or give him back the job.
Lee issued a statement expressing regret after lawmakers voted 179-109 in favor of impeaching him and said he would defend his case in the Constitutional Court. Lee’s impeachment highlights the growing impasse Yoon faces in a parliament controlled by his liberal opponents and could further intensify the country’s partisan political fighting that has fueled a national divide.
Officials also botched their response once people began getting toppled over and crushed in a narrow alley clogged with partygoers near Hamilton Hotel around 10 p.m., failing to establish effective control of the scene and allow rescue workers to reach the injured in time. Oh Yeong-hwan, lawmaker and spokesperson for the main opposition Democratic Party, said lawmakers “carried out the order of the people” in impeaching Lee, who he said should be held responsible for the deadly crowd surge in Itaewon. He criticized Yoon for sticking with Lee in the face of mounting calls for his removal.
He insisted that the liberals were motivated by political vendetta against Yoon as prosecutors under his government push forward an investigation into corruption allegations surrounding Democratic Party Chairman Lee Jae-myung, a firebrand lawmaker who narrowly lost to Yoon in last year’s presidential elections.
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