Kim Min-seok, the leader of the Democratic Party, faced controversy after using an emergency parking area during a visit to pay respects to a fallen firefighter. In response, Kim Tae-sun, the head of the party's secretariat, stated, "The vehicle in question belongs to our office. There is no excuse for this mistake."
On October 19, Kim Tae-sun expressed his regret on Facebook, saying, "The vehicle parked in the emergency area during the mourning visit was from our office. There is no excuse for this mistake." He further apologized to the public, stating, "I sincerely apologize for causing concern. I will take special care to ensure this does not happen again."
Earlier, Kim Min-seok visited the funeral home at Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital to pay his respects to firefighter Kim Jin-seok, who died while responding to a fire at a paint factory in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province.
The controversy arose when it was revealed that the vehicle used by Kim Min-seok was parked in an area designated for emergency patients for about 30 minutes. The hospital had reportedly posted signs indicating that parking was prohibited for outpatients and inpatients.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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