Lee offers apology to bereaved families of major disasters

President Lee Jae Myung met with families of the victims of national tragedies that have occurred in recent years, including the Itaewon Halloween crowd crush and the Sewol ferry sinking.

The president offered an apology on behalf of the government.

Our top office correspondent, Yoon Jung-min reports.

The day after the nation remembered the second anniversary of the disastrous underpass flooding in the city of Osong, a large-scale dialogue took place with people who had lost loved ones in major social disasters in recent years, many of whom's suffering is far from over.

To these people, President Lee Jae Myung offered an official apology.

"As the chief who's in charge of state affairs, I officially apologize on behalf of the government for not fulfilling its responsibility to protect the lives and safety of the people, which led to the loss of many lives."

Invited to the Yeongbingwan Hall at the Blue House on Wednesday were some 200 of them for "consolation and healing."

Among them were bereaved families of the Sewol ferry sinking that killed more than 300 people in 2014, many of whom were young people aboard for a school trip, the Itaewon crowd crush in 2022, and the Muan airport crash late last year.

Some still called for getting to the bottom of what happened and holding those responsible to account,

"We call for an investigation into the cause of the disaster, and for the interior ministry to immediately open an investigation to find out the cause of the flooding."

others suffer from secondary victimization.

"Since the disaster, we have never been apologized to for the state violence whereby victims have been subject to inspections, and efforts to uncover the truth have been hindered."

As the message was clear about what should be done at a national level, the focus was on how the state should function to prevent such disasters from happening again.

"The state's No. 1 responsibility is to protect the lives and safety of the people. The state was not there when the people were threatened, when they needed protection. There was a wrong tendency in this society where money comes before life and costs come before safety."

Wednesday's meeting was part of President Lee's attempts to bolster direct communication with the people.

Another town hall meeting is scheduled on Friday in the southeastern city of Busan.

Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.