Minister Lee Sang-min apologizes for the comment

Minister of Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min apologized for his remarks of “resigning in a fancy manner” on Monday. The Democratic Party urged Minister Lee to resign, criticizing the minister for not stepping down.

Lawmaker Jeong Woon-chan of the People Power Party also criticized the minister at the Special Committee Meeting on Budget and Accounts for his remarks in a recent interview that “who would not want to resign in a fancy manner and escape from this situation,” stating that his remarks have become disputable again. Lee apologized for the remarks, saying that his remarks were unrefined, regarding the question as a personal greeting. He said he should have answered more carefully and sincerely apologized to the public.

Ko Young-in of the Democratic Party admonished the minister, asking if stepping down from the minister’s position would be a fancy deal. Lee responded by asking to view the “whole context rather than a specific word.” Ko went on to ask why the minister was not resigning despite the request of the public, but Lee dismissed the remarks by answering that “doing his best in his position would be the most responsible thing to do.”

Lee’s remarks also gained attention again when he responded to Ko’s remarks on the Presidential Office banning MBC from Air Force One on taming the press by saying, "let’s not attack in that manner and think in a positive way.” Lee was criticized by the Democratic Party and apologized for “his expressions which may have appeared curt.”

The People Power Party held a private roundtable attended by senior legislators and reconfirmed its opposition to the national investigation on the Itaewon tragedy. “If the investigation is deemed insufficient, it would not be late to discuss whether to apply national investigation or special investigation,” said Leader Jeong Jik-seok of the Contingency Committee to reporters. “Participants of the meeting overwhelmingly agreed that requests for national investigation are backed by political intention to hide Lee Jae-myung’s wrongdoings and thus it would not be right to attend the investigation,” said floor leader Joo Ho-yeong.

The People Power Party said that Minister Lee’s course of action was not discussed at the roundtable. “There were concerns that Lee had not assumed political accountability for the accident and tried to evade responsibility,” said a participant.


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