Presidential Official Denies Yoon’s Remarks Regarding Itaewon Crowd Crush

Senior presidential secretary for public relations Lee Do-woon has denied that President  Yoon Suk Yeol had mentioned the possibility that the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush may have been fabricated.

Lee told the parliamentary steering committee on Monday that Yoon has never made the remarks when asked about the matter.

In his recently published memoir, former National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo claimed that Yoon had said he cannot rule out the possibility that the crowd crush may have been induced and manipulated by a certain force. 

Denying the claim, the presidential secretary for public relations said that President Yoon had instructed authorities to investigate all the suspicions raised by the media regarding the case. 

Lee also rejected speculation that the president grasped the situation through personally secured information without trusting official reports, saying that Yoon received official reports from the police on the day of the accident. 

Earlier, the presidential office flatly denied the former speaker’s claim, saying that it is deplorable that a former National Assembly speaker would distort a private conversation with the president and reveal it to the public.