South Korean President Orders New Investigation Team To Investigate Deadly Halloween Tragedy In Itaewon 2022

JAKARTA - South Korean President Lee Jae-myung ordered the formation of a new investigative team, involving police and prosecutors, to investigate the deadly Halloween crowd incident that killed 159 people, mostly young people, in 2022, a spokesman said on Thursday.

President Lee's move to launch this new investigation comes as he meets families of major disaster victims recently, including a Halloween crowd in Itaewon District, Seoul, his spokesman Kang Yu-jung told a briefing.

President Lee said the new investigative team would cooperate with a special commission set up in September last year to investigate the case, according to the spokesman.

In his meeting with Lee, Song Hae-jin, the representative of the victim's family, said police records and information regarding the government's response to the disaster had been hidden from the special commission.

During his meeting with the victim's family, President Lee bowed deeply while apologizing for the failures of the authorities.

"As head of state, I would like to formally apologize on behalf of the government for failing to fulfill its responsibility to protect the lives and safety of the people, and for the many people who lost their lives as a result of this disaster," he said in the midst of sobs of several relatives.

President Lee, who took office in June, has pledged to make the country safer and prevent a repeat of disasters in recent years that have often been blamed on inadequate responses from authorities.