SEOUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th February, 2023) The National Assembly of South Korea, for the first time in the 75-year history of the country's constitution, voted to impeach a Cabinet member, Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, over the Itaewon crowd crush, which claimed the lives of 159 people, South Korean media reported on Wednesday.
According to a Yonhap news agency report, 179 members of the South Korean parliament voted for impeachment, 109 against, while another five members abstained.
The proposal was put forward by the main opposition Democratic Party, which holds 169 seats in parliament. It was also joined by the Justice Party and the Basic Income Party, media said.
The minister will be suspended from office until the final decision on the impeachment process is made by the Constitutional Court. Depending on the court's decision, Lee will either be reinstated or dismissed, Yonhap reported.
At least 159 people died in the crush in Seoul on October 29, 2022, after thousands headed into a narrow street in a popular nightlife district to celebrate Halloween. Police admitted to having been warned about the dangerous crowd surge in the Itaewon neighborhood hours before it became deadly.
In November, the parliamentary leader of the main opposition Democratic Party called on President Yoon Suk-yeol to dismiss Lee, but the government refused to that. The police, in turn, decided not to prosecute any officials from the Interior Ministry or the National Police Agency, concluding that these agencies were not legally responsible for crowd control.
