"Child Died, So Why Is Everyone Innocent... Father’s Petition Blames Safety Management"

A petition written by the deceased's father claiming that "an accident occurred because Jeonju City and the construction company failed to carry out the mandatory river safety management." Photo by Cheongwadae National Petition Board capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Choyoung] A petition has been posted claiming that the city and the construction company failed to fulfill their safety management duties, which led to a fatal accident where a person drowned while playing in a stream near a highway construction site while intoxicated, and asking for the injustice to be resolved.

According to the Blue House National Petition Board on the 14th, a post titled "Jeonju city officials and the construction company did not manage the stream even once in 500 days, and my child died, yet all are declared innocent" was posted the day before.

The petitioner, who identified himself as the deceased’s father, stated, "My son died in a drowning accident last year," and claimed, "This accident occurred because Jeonju city and the construction company did not perform the mandatory stream safety management."

The petitioner said, "In December of the same year, I filed a complaint against the officials and construction company representatives with the police, and on the 10th, I received a response that all of them were found not guilty," adding, "Was the investigation conducted unfairly so that those responsible for causing my child's death were all acquitted? Where in the world does such an unjust and unfair thing happen?"

The accident mentioned by the petitioner occurred on August 18 last year at the Saemangeum?Jeonju highway construction site. At that time, A (23) was intoxicated and playing in the water with friends under a temporary bridge installed near the construction site when he fell into the stream and lost consciousness.

A’s father filed a complaint requesting punishment for the construction company officials and the public officials responsible for stream management, but all were recently cleared of charges through police and prosecution investigations.

Regarding this, the petitioner explained, "Jeonju city authorized the construction company to work in the stream where my child died, but the stream officials did not perform any stream management duties even once in nearly 500 days," and "The construction company also conducted highway construction in the stream for about 300 days without ever performing safety management tasks such as installing safety signs, buoys indicating deep water, or assigning safety managers."

He continued, "Three construction officials were watching my child and his friends approaching the already built stream bridge just before the accident, and even watched them enter the water right next to them, but not a single person stopped them," adding, "My child and his friends were not heavily intoxicated or unconscious, yet the construction company claims they fulfilled their safety management duties by only telling them once, five hours before the accident, to leave because it was a construction site."

The petitioner pointed out, "Even though my child died, why are they all declared innocent and why is my child blamed? If they want to blame my child, then the Jeonju city officials or construction company representatives should have performed stream safety management duties, and my child should have violated those."

As of 11 a.m. on the 14th, the petition had received support from more than 1,700 people.