The People Power Party stepped up pressure on the government and the ruling Democratic Party over allegations that Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok received preferential treatment in parking at an emergency room. The opposition party demanded that Kim apologize in person and clearly explain how his vehicle came to be parked in a zone reserved for emergency patients.
PPP members of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee held a press conference at the National Assembly on the 20th, saying that "in front of an emergency room, neither the president nor the ruling party leader can be an exception." They added that they would "never stand by and watch the principles of emergency medicine collapse in the face of power."
Kim became embroiled in the controversy after it emerged that the vehicle he arrived in had been parked in an emergency patient zone during a visit on the 18th to Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital in Gyeonggi Province, where a funeral altar had been set up for the late fire lieutenant Kim Jin-seok, who died in the line of duty at a fire scene. Criticism of the ruling bloc had already intensified over Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae's remark describing fire services as a "straw" draining finances, and the opposition's offensive over fire service and emergency medical issues has widened with Kim's parking controversy. Kim's side explained, however, that the vehicle belonged to his chief of staff Kim Tae-seon rather than to Kim himself, and that it had been parked for about 30 minutes without the driver realizing the designation, following directions from a hospital guide.
The opposition Health and Welfare Committee members at the press conference said the vehicle Kim arrived in "was parked for about 30 minutes in the emergency patient parking area in front of the emergency room, and accompanying vehicles parked in the same place one after another." They added that "there are also reports that staff appearing to be hospital employees removed the no-parking cones and directed the vehicles in."
"The Democratic Party explained that the driver did not know, but there was a sign there designating the area for emergency patients," they said. "At a place honoring a firefighter who died protecting the public, they blocked the emergency access route of other citizens." They stressed that "the very scene in which a hospital had to remove the cones is the privilege that power creates."
The PPP did not stop at Kim's parking controversy, also raising the recent police search and seizure at the pediatric emergency medical center of Ajou University Hospital and the dispute over whether it was appropriate for President Lee Jae-myung to be transported by fire service helicopter after a 2024 attack in Busan. The party appears to be broadening its offensive beyond allegations of personal favors for Kim toward a question of responsibility for the government and ruling party's overall management of the emergency medical system.
On the search and seizure at Ajou University Hospital's pediatric emergency medical center, PPP lawmaker Han Ji-a said that "pediatric emergency specialists have submitted resignations one after another, and even returning the center's designation is under discussion." She added that "if the pediatric emergency medical centers, of which there are only 14 nationwide, collapse, the damage falls entirely on children."
"Even so, the government only says it will draw up investigation guidelines, without presenting specifics or a timeline for implementation," she said. The PPP plans to summon the head of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency's metropolitan investigation unit, who directed the search, as a witness at the Health and Welfare Committee's comprehensive audit on the 27th to question whether the action was appropriate.
The transport of President Lee by a 119 fire service helicopter to Seoul National University Hospital after he was stabbed in Busan while serving as Democratic Party leader also came under scrutiny again. The party took issue with the fact that the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission had confirmed violations of the code of conduct by medical staff and firefighters involved in the 2024 helicopter transport, only to reverse that conclusion in May this year, saying the earlier judgment had been inappropriate.
The PPP urged President Lee to explain the helicopter transport controversy directly to the public. It also called on the Ministry of Health and Welfare to review the criteria for emergency helicopter transport and patient transfers.