South Korea’s Assembly-backed inquiry into the 2022 Itaewon disaster will continue until September 2027 after a bipartisan bill extended its mandate by one year, The Korea Herald reported, as families seek accountability.
Nam In-soon, deputy speaker of the National Assembly and head of the ruling Democratic Party’s special committee on the disaster, said the investigation must answer how national safeguards failed on the night of the crowd crush and establish responsibility. She said families still have little clarity about what happened and who should answer for it.
Nam cited procedural delays during former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s time in office and inadequate cooperation from people under investigation. She also pointed to shortages of investigators and funding as obstacles to the commission’s work.
Courts have kept criminal proceedings involving Park Hee-young and Kim Kwang-ho on hold since last year while awaiting the commission’s findings, The Korea Herald reported. The former Yongsan-gu ward office chief and former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency chief are among senior officials examined by the inquiry; courts had found them not guilty in connection with the disaster.
The commission’s next scheduled milestone is the release of interim results Tuesday, Oct. 27, the newspaper reported.
