South Korea’s National Assembly has voted to approve a bill backed by the ruling and opposition parties to launch a fresh probe into the deadly Halloween crowd crush in the capital Seoul in 2022.
The latest bill is a compromise that removes granting full investigative power to the panel, which will allow a committee made up of members recommended by two major parties and a chair chosen by them through consultations look into the tragedy.
The passage of the bill comes after Yoon met, opposition leader Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party for talks on Monday following the PPP’s crushing general election defeat last month.
It also comes amid growing pressure on authorities, including from relatives of the victims, to hold those responsible to account.
The Halloween crowd crush in Seoul’s Itaewon district in 2022 killed nearly 160 people and relatives of the victims as well as the United Nations Human Rights Committee have since called for an independent inquiry.
