The bereaved family of the Itaewon disaster, "Using incompetence as the basis for innocence... disastrous."

[Anchor]
The bereaved family of the Itaewon disaster said they could not accept the acquittal of Park Hee-young, the head of Yongsan-gu District Office, and expressed their feelings of devastation.

Using incompetence as the basis for innocence, he said it was unfair, adding that he would try to reveal the truth not only in court but also outside.

Next, reporter Lim Ye-jin reports.

[Reporter]
When Yongsan-gu Mayor Park Hee-young, who was acquitted, left the court, the area became a chaos.

The bereaved families surrounded the car of Mayor Park and blocked the road, expressing their anger.Knocked on the door of

and shouted that the court's judgment was unacceptable.

" It's all the same, it's always the same!"

The bereaved family criticized the court for giving indulgence to officials of Yongsan-gu District Office, including Mayor Park, for not recognizing the negligence of their work.

The court was buried only in formal legal logic, calling the defendants' incompetence unfair as the basis for their innocence.

[Lee Jung-min / Chairman of the Itaewon bereaved family council: How can the head of the district office be acquitted when the people lost their lives in one day? Does this make sense? The Itaewon Special Tourist Zone should be eliminated.]

In the future, he emphasized that he would reveal the truth through the Itaewon disaster special committee as well as in the court.

[Oh Min-ae / Lawyer: Also, as you saw on the spot, I don't think it's just about being convicted in court. I think we have confirmed in court today that there is more to be revealed in the process of the special investigation in the future....]

The bereaved families also urged the prosecution to immediately appeal to the former Yongsan chief Lee Im-jae, who was sentenced to three years in prison, less than seven years in prison.

At the same time, ahead of the second anniversary of the disaster, he declared October as "Month of Memory and Mourning" and asked the people to remember the disaster and help them.

[Ahn Young-sun / bereaved family of Itaewon disaster: There will be more fights to be faced in the future so that the special investigation committee can conduct a proper fact-finding mission. The road ahead will be longer and more rough than the one we've walked. And we still need the strength of our citizens along the way.]

The remaining first trial related to the Itaewon disaster is a total of four cases, including three officials from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, including former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Kim Kwang-ho.

While the ruling, which convicted former Yongsan chief Lee Im-jae, is expected to have a significant impact on the trial, it is expected that the key will eventually be how much of the upper echelons can be held accountable.

I'm YTN's Lim Yejin.