Sangmin Lee Visits Itaewon Memorial Altar Without Notice... Civic Group Calls It a "One-Sided Condolence"

At the 2023 Central-Local Joint Meeting on Current Issues held at the Government Seoul Office, Lee Sang-min, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, is delivering a greeting. Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@

On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday, the 21st, Lee Sang-min, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, visited the Itaewon disaster victims' citizen memorial altar without prior notice to pay his respects.

According to the Itaewon Disaster Citizens' Countermeasures Meeting, the minister visited the citizen memorial altar set up at Itaewon Plaza in Yongsan-gu around 10:40 a.m. that day.

A representative of the Citizens' Countermeasures Meeting stated, "Minister Lee, who paid respects to the victims, repeatedly requested to have a conversation with the bereaved families present at the site," adding, "When the families demanded his resignation, he avoided the issue by saying, 'Let's talk later.'" They also mentioned that he left the site just five minutes after arriving at the memorial altar.

Regarding the minister's visit, the Citizens' Countermeasures Meeting criticized in a statement, calling it "a unilateral act without prior contact with the bereaved families." They argued, "Visiting without notice, forgetting the position and responsibility as the Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, cannot be any form of consolation," and insisted, "The minister, who neither offered an official apology nor responded to the resignation demands, must step down."