The victims’ families have called for an independent investigation into the disaster, which killed more than 150 people.
South Korea’s parliament has passed a bill for a new, independent investigation into the 2022 Halloween crowd in the capital Seoul, where more than 150 people were killed.
The unicameral, opposition-led National Assembly approved the measure on Thursday in a cross-party vote with 256 votes in favor, three abstentions and no opposition. It will become law once it is signed by President Yoon Suk-yeol, which is considered a formality.
The law calls for the creation of a nine-member investigative committee to investigate the cause of the clash, how authorities handled it and who should be held responsible. This process can take up to 15 months.
The crush occurred on Oct. 29, 2002, as revelers swarmed the narrow streets of Seoul’s popular Itaewon nightlife district to celebrate the first Halloween in three years without COVID-19 restrictions. Almost 200 people were injured in the subsequent surge, most of the victims were between 20 and 30 years old.
After the disaster, anger grew that the government was ignoring safety and regulatory issues.
Police faced intense public criticism and scrutiny over their response, deploying only 137 officers to the area despite advance estimates that up to 100,000 people would gather there.
In 2023, a special police investigation concluded that police and municipal officials had failed to formulate effective crowd control measures.
Investigators also said police ignored hotline calls from pedestrians warning of rising crowds before the surge turned deadly.
Bereaved families and opposition lawmakers have repeatedly called for an independent investigation as few have been held accountable for the incident, despite more than 20 police and other officials facing trial.
In January, prosecutors charged Kim Kwang-ho, the former head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, with negligence for failing to ensure there were enough officers at the scene. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Two former senior police officers were convicted in February of destroying evidence related to the raid.
According to the new bill, once the committee determines who is responsible and who should be charged, it will report them to government investigators. The authorities would then complete the investigation against the suspects within three months.
A previous bill backed by the opposition-led parliament was rejected by Yoon in January amid disputes over the body’s powers, such as whether the investigative committee can request arrest warrants.
However, in a meeting on Monday with opposition leader Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party, Yoon said he would not oppose the law if the disputes were resolved.
Yoon’s change comes at a time of increasing public calls for cooperation with Lee’s party, which won a landslide victory in the April 10 election.
At a meeting with Yoon’s ruling People Power Party on Wednesday, Lee’s party agreed to remove controversial clauses from the bill, including granting the panel full investigative powers.