National Assembly to investigate Corp. Chae's line-of-duty death

The People Power Party decided on Monday, during a general meeting of its lawmakers, to accept the Democratic Party of Korea’s request for a parliamentary investigation into the incident of L. Corp. Chae Su-geun’s line-of-duty death. National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik plans to process the implementation plan for the investigation during a plenary session on Wednesday. This will mark the first parliamentary investigation since the opening of the 22nd National Assembly. Previously, there was a parliamentary investigation into the Itaewon Halloween tragedy from November 2022 to January 2023. The Democratic Party welcomed the ruling party’s participation, stating, “Though it’s late, we welcome it,” while expressing hopes that “this participation will not serve as an obstacle to uncovering the truth.”

“We decided to participate in the parliamentary investigation to thoroughly uncover and explain to the public the various issues surrounding L. Corp. Chae’s line-of-duty death and provide an opportunity for the people to understand,” the People Power Party’s Floor Leader Choo Kyung-ho explained during a press briefing after the general meeting. The ruling party plans to allocate seven out of the 18 parliamentary investigation committee seats to its members, including lawmakers affiliated with the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, such as the ruling party’s secretary of the committee, Yoo Sang-beom, and those from the National Defense Committee. The Democratic Party will appoint 10 members, and the Rebuilding Korea Party will appoint one. The ruling and opposition parties will continue negotiating the parliamentary investigation plan, including its scope and duration.

The ruling party’s shift to participate in the investigation stems from the fact that the opposition could independently initiate a parliamentary investigation even without its cooperation. According to the Act on the Inspection and Investigation of State Administration, a parliamentary investigation must be conducted if requested by at least one-fourth of the sitting lawmakers. “While we seriously considered not participating in the parliamentary investigation due to the lack of investigation results from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, the opposition’s unilateral control of the investigation could lead to a distorted operation,” Choo said. “The opposition is attempting to use the investigation as a tool for political strife, despite various hearings and audits conducted by the National Assembly to

The presidential office stated that it would not issue a separate statement since Choo had sufficiently explained the reasons for accepting the parliamentary investigation, emphasizing that the decision was made after thorough coordination with the presidential office.

“We hope this participation was not intended to obstruct the pursuit of truth,” Democratic Party spokesperson Yoon Jong-kun told the press on Monday. “Once the investigation proceeds, even the facts revealed so far will bring us closer to uncovering the truth.”


권구용 기자 9dragon@donga.com