South Korea’s parliament on Wednesday voted to impeach Lee Sang-min, Minister of the Interior and Safety, to hold him responsible for the deadly Itaewon crowd crush in October 2022. 

The National Assembly, dominated by the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, voted 179 to 109 in favour of impeaching Mr Lee while five other votes were counted invalid.

Mr Lee will be suspended from duty until the constitutional court rules in favour or against the impeachment motion proposed by the Democratic Party and two minor liberal parties.

This marked the country’s first impeachment of a cabinet member in the history of the unicameral parliament.

Liberal lawmakers criticised the conservative government for its bungled response to the crowd crush that claimed 159 lives.

After wrapping up a 74-day probe into the “man-made disaster” in January, the special police investigation team referred 23 government officials to the prosecution on professional negligence and other charges.

The team, however, decided not to hold any officials from the interior ministry, the Seoul city government and the national police agency criminally liable for the disaster. 

(Xinhua/NAN)