<Anchor>



Survivors and bereaved families of the Itaewon disaster attended a public hearing on the government investigation and stated their thoughts and circumstances at the time.

In a solemn atmosphere, the bereaved families and survivors, who spoke with difficulty, pointed out the authorities' poor rescue response and controversy over secondary abuse.



On the sidewalk, this is reporter Ahn Hee-jae.



<Reporter>



Yesterday (12th), the bereaved families who watched the two hearings and the first public hearing from the audience sat at the conference room as statements.



They denounced the government's overall poor response, including emergency rescue, identification of victims, confusion in transport, and controversies over secondary abuse.



[Choi Seon-mi/Victim's bereaved family: Why couldn't it be done according to the manual and instructions, and what was the reason for the decision!

I have questions and anger about how my child became a child who shouldn't be remembered.]



He endured the malicious comments, but said that the authorities' irresponsible remarks hurt.



[Kim Chorong/Survivor: The second offense to me was the words of the minister, prime minister, and members of the National Assembly.

After the disaster, I collapsed for the first time while watching the first briefing by the Minister of Public Administration and Security.] Even though I



wanted to meet other bereaved families and share their sorrow, I resented that I couldn't get help from the government.



The Itaewon merchant, who said he should have saved at least one more person and suffered from guilt, knelt instead.



[Nam In-seok/Itaewon Merchant: If you can't stop it, you can't sleep when you see death in front of you, and if you discuss it well so that it doesn't become a vain death...

.]



The members of the special committee also had tears in their eyes throughout the testimony.



Both the ruling and opposition parties apologized to the bereaved family for pointing out that only political strife ensued, and that no one took responsibility properly and the truth was not revealed.



Minister of Public Administration and Security Lee Sang-min, who demanded a confrontation from the opposition party, and Democratic Party lawmaker Shin Hyun-young, a party to the Dr. Car controversy, did not attend amidst a struggle between the opposition parties.



The special committee will hold a plenary meeting early next week to adopt a report on the results of the parliamentary investigation and conclude the special committee's activities.



(Video coverage: Yang Doo-won · Lee Chan-soo, video editing: Kim Jin-won)