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Seoul City on March 29 expressed strong regret, condemning the Democratic Party’s criticism of Mayor Oh Se-hoon and the Han River Bus as “a low, partisan political attack” after a private Han River cruise stalled the previous night.
Lee Min-kyung, Seoul City’s spokesperson, said in a statement that tying an accident on a private cruise vessel to the Han River Bus public-transit policy — and calling for an “immediate suspension” and a “criminal investigation” — misrepresents the facts and amounts to deliberate framing.
She added that the Democratic Party has avoided substantive discussion about public safety and measures to prevent a recurrence, choosing instead to focus on “attacking the mayor” ahead of the election. It is hard to escape the impression that the party is exploiting public concern for political gain.
Lee described demands for a blanket suspension of a policy and a criminal probe based on an accident involving a private vessel as inflammatory, and she questioned whether the party plans to link every future river-related incident to a single policy to sustain political attacks.
Seoul City said it will carry out a thorough investigation in its role as the managing authority. It said it will rigorously determine whether the incident violated safe-navigation provisions under the Pilot Craft Act and will take necessary administrative measures, while strengthening inspections and oversight to prevent recurrence.
The city added that it will not compromise on public safety and will respond firmly to what it called irresponsible political attacks that exploit the accident to stoke public anxiety.
Earlier, Im Se-eun, senior deputy spokesperson for the Democratic Party, said the private cruise accident is a serious warning and a substantive threat to Mayor Oh’s Han River Bus project. Im argued that proposing public transit to carry tens of thousands of people daily on waterways where even private cruise vessels can lose their way and stall amounts to reckless overreach, and he urged Mayor Oh to immediately suspend Han River Bus operations and conduct a comprehensive safety review of all waterborne transportation.
Around 8:30 p.m. the previous evening, the Seocho Fire Department received a report near Banpo Bridge that a boat “could not move” and launched rescue operations. Firefighters and police transferred passengers to rescue vessels and brought them ashore, rescuing all 359 people on board. There were no injuries.
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