SEOUL: South Korean lawmakers voted on Wednesday (Feb 8) to impeach the interior minister over his responses to a deadly Halloween crush, setting the stage for him to become the country’s first cabinet member ousted by the legislature.
The impeachment motion was passed by a widely expected 179-109 margin in a secret ballot in the 300-member single chamber, where the main opposition Democratic Party holds a 169-seat majority. The support of at least 150 members of the assembly was required to pass it.
The parliament’s justice committee will review the motion before sending it to the Constitutional Court, which would decide whether to uphold the impeachment, a process that could take up to six months.
The Democrats and other opposition parties had pushed to expel the interior minister, Lee Sang-min, urging him to bear responsibility for botched responses to the crush.
The Oct 29 incident killed 159 people and injured 196 when revellers flooded narrow alleyways in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon to enjoy the first coronavirus mask-free Halloween festivities in three years.
Lee and the police have faced criticism over their handling of the tragedy, especially after publicly released transcripts of emergency calls showed that many citizens warned of impending danger and called for help hours before the stampede.
Source: CNA
