The National Assembly on Friday passed a package of bills aimed at preventing a disaster similar to April’s ferry sinking that left more than 300 people dead or missing.
Last week, the ruling and main opposition parties reached a compromise on the bills after a monthslong standoff that put nearly all other parliamentary activity on hold.
The ferry disaster has been a major political issue in South Korea as critics argue that the government’s poor initial response to the tragedy contributed to the high death toll.
One bill calls for an independent investigation into the cause of the disaster through the appointment of an independent counsel and a fact-finding team.
The so-called special Sewol law, named after the 6,825-ton ferry that sank off the country’s southwest coast on April 16, was at the center of the monthslong controversy as family members of the victims demanded their participation in the selection of the independent counsel.
The ruling Saenuri Party refused to allow their participation over concerns it could undermine the neutrality of the probe. It did, however, agree to seek the families’ opinion on independent counsel candidates of its choice and exclude those rejected by the families. Under a relevant law, President Park Geun-hye will have the final say and choose one of two candidates recommended by a panel.
The fact-finding committee, meanwhile, will be comprised of 18 people, including the chairman who is to be named by the victims’ families, and operate over 18 months.
Also passed was a bill calling for the dismantlement of the Coast Guard and the National Emergency Management Agency. Both organizations will be placed under a new government ministry to be charged with overseeing disaster management.
The final bill of the package calls for measures to swiftly retrieve the wealth of those found to have caused people’s deaths through illegal activities, including any wealth hidden by a third party.
The retrieved wealth is to be used to compensate victims’ families.
The bill was proposed as current laws made it impossible to retrieve the wealth of the ferry’s late owner, Yoo Byung-eun, because some of it had been given to his family members.
Investigators believe that Yoo and his family ultimately caused the tragedy by overlooking safety and maximizing profits through cargo overloading and excessive remodeling of the ship.
All three bills were passed as more than 150 family members of the victims, most of whom were high school students on a field trip, looked on inside the main hall of the National Assembly building.
Some relatives wept out loud as Rep. Lee Sang-gyu of the minor opposition Unified Progressive Party read out a letter written by the father of a high school victim, and later gave a standing ovation when the lawmaker deeply bowed toward the families.
The special Sewol law passed 212-12, with 27 abstentions, while the government reorganization bill passed 146-71, with 32 abstentions and the wealth retrieval bill passed 224-4, with 17 abstentions.
South Korea’s unicameral parliament has 300 lawmakers. (Yonhap)
