In a radio interview, Cheon Jun-ho, head of the Democratic Party’s Task Force for Normalizing Oh Se-hoon’s Administration Failures, emphasized that a comprehensive review should be conducted concerning the Han River bus accident involving course deviation and grounding. He stated that after thoroughly examining any issues that might impact safety and preparing countermeasures, resuming operations would not be too late.
Cheon appeared on YTN Radio’s ‘The Interview with Kim Young-soo’ and revealed that there had been 10 “touch” incidents in the two days preceding the accident. He criticized the failure to halt operations when, on the day of the accident at around 1:10 PM, the same bus, 102, struck the bottom near Ttukseom dock and stopped for about 10 minutes, causing significant passenger anxiety.
Despite these warnings, the Seoul city government continued the operations, which resulted in another grounding at 8:25 PM, requiring the evacuation of 82 passengers. Cheon criticized Seoul for halting operations between Jamsil and Apgujeong docks but continuing between Yeouido and Magok docks.
Furthermore, Cheon raised allegations of the Seoul government’s attempt to conceal the accident. He claimed that a tip-off from a Han River bus associate suggested there were instructions within Seoul city to prevent external disclosure of the incident, which reminded the informant of the Sewol ferry disaster.
During the national audit in October, Cheon noted that when asked for documents related to the accident or repairs, Seoul city claimed no such documents existed, attributing this to the private nature of the company’s operations. Oh Se-hoon, the Mayor, also testified that there were no significant issues reported.
Cheon pointed out that on the 17th, three days before the Seoul city audit, there was an accident involving a collision with a large steel buoy in the Han River. Yet, during the audit three days later, Seoul city reported no issues, which Cheon criticized as a serious problem.