Health personnel help people who were injured in the stampede in October 2022. Photo: Lee Jin-man / AP / NTB
Of NTB | 02.05.2024 10:24:50
Leisure time: The compromise removes several of the investigators’ powers that were included in an earlier proposal. New negotiations were needed as President Yoon Suk-yeol vetoed the first proposal in January. The Commission of Inquiry shall consist of members appointed by the two largest parties, with a leader that they agree on together.
Yoon’s party PPP lost heavily in the parliamentary elections in April, which has accelerated the compromise along with increased pressure on the authorities from survivors and relatives.
Tens of thousands of people, mostly young people, had gathered in the nightlife district of Itaewon in Seoul on October 29 in 2022 to celebrate Halloween.
When many of them were forced into a narrow street, a violent stampede ensued which resulted in 159 deaths and many more injuries. 20-year-old Stine Roalkvam Evensen from Sandnes was among the dead.
The police and the authorities in Seoul have been blamed for the tragedy. In January, a former police chief was charged in the case.
(© NTB)