The bereaved families of the victims who died in the Halloween crowd crush in Itaewon visited the National Assembly on December 13 and called for lawmakers to quickly conduct a parliamentary inquiry, which has been at a standstill for twenty days. They fiercely denounced the ruling People Power Party P(PPP) figures who have been opposing the parliamentary inquiry.

A group of citizens including the group representing the families of the October 29 Itaewon disaster victims and 188 civic groups held a press conference at the National Assembly on Tuesday and called for a parliamentary inquiry with no sanctuary and for a formal apology from the president. They argued that the government should uncover the details of how the police came to advise families to consent to a drug test during the autopsy, why the 112 report system failed to operate properly, and why the government kept the bereaved families from getting in touch with each other in the parliamentary inquiry.

Twenty days have passed since the lawmakers agreed to conduct a parliamentary inquiry on November 24. But the seven PPP lawmakers who were to take part in the parliamentary inquiry all resigned after the Democratic Party of Korea passed a motion for the dismissal of Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min on December 11. The victims’ family group and the civic groups said, “The parliamentary inquiry is not just a process to identify who is legally responsible, but should be a process to uncover the systemic and structural cause of such a disaster.”

A, the mother of the late Bak Ga-yeong said, “I don’t know what my child’s last moments were like. No agency has informed me. There is no agency that knows, either.” She complained, “This government can’t do anything, and it knows nothing.” She continued, “People ask why we keep asking the president to apologize when he already apologized,” and said, “We want an apology with the subject clearly mentioned. The president’s apology is not simply an apology. They are words of comfort to the people.”

Some voices criticized the PPP lawmakers. Earlier, lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong said, “Itaewon must not head down the same path as the Sewol,” and lawmaker Chang Je-won said, “We should never have agreed to the parliamentary inquiry in the first place.”

A cried, “Are you (Chang Je-won) relieved that your son is alive? Don’t be. How can this country be safe when you are a politician in this country?” Yi Jeong-min, the vice representative of the victims’ family group and also the father of the late Yi Ju-yeong said, “We request a formal meeting with the People Power Party,” and added, “We will send an official letter. If the recent rash words (by PPP lawmakers) are the official position of the People Power Party, then we ask that every one of you attend the meeting and personally deliver your position to us, the victims’ families.” Yi Jeong-min also criticized Kim Seong-hoi, former secretary for religious and multicultural affairs in the Office of the President, who made a comment blaming the victims’ families for the disaster. Yi asked, “Do you lock your adult children at home and ban them from going anywhere? Do you think that a parent restricting his children is a good parent?” and added, “Perhaps you think that is how one should do politics as well.”

The victims’ family group will hold a memorial ceremony at Itaewon Station Exit 3 under the title, “Remember Us,” at 6 p.m. December 16 to commemorate the 49th day after death.