By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
The government is taking steps to assist displaced tenants from the Yongsan redevelopment area in Seoul, where a violent clash between police and protesters last month left six people dead.
At a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Han Seung-soo Tuesday, the Lee Myung-bak administration approved several measures to help tenants who had been evicted from the Yongsan redevelopment area in central Seoul.
The police chief-designate Kim Seok-ki officially withdrew his candidacy, taking responsibility for the police raid in Yongsan. He also resigned from his current post, the chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.
On Jan. 20, a riot police team raided a four-story building in Yongsan to forcibly evict dozens of protesters opposing redevelopment of the area. Six people, including a police officer, were killed in the fire that occurred during the police raid.
During the Cabinet meeting, the government announced it would offer preferential status to displaced tenants in new store spaces in Yongsan when the redevelopment construction gets completed.
The ousted tenants will also get more state compensation. Currently, they are eligible for suspended-business compensation from the government for a three-month period. That will now be extended to four months, the government announced.
The administration is also considering setting up a dispute-resolution committee ― of which members would include civil rights groups and urban redevelopment expert ― for mediation and addressing tenant concerns.
But Prime Minister Han reiterated at the Cabinet meeting that the government does not condone illegal, violent protests and that the authorities will deal with such gatherings strictly in accordance with the law.
In Tuesday's press conference, police chief-designate Kim announced his decision to withdraw his candidacy as the new chief of the nation's police agency. ``I am holding myself morally responsible for the Yongsan accident, so I am withdrawing from the nomination for the head of the National Police Agency and I am also stepping down as the Seoul police chief," he said.
Kim said his departure was voluntary. He added that he hopes his resignation would put an end to the ongoing political dispute over the incident and his nomination, so that the country could get back to dealing with its economic challenges.
Kim has been facing criticism for allowing the police raid in Yongsan last month, even after being told that protesters were equipped with Molotov cocktails and other flammable materials.
The prosecution Monday cleared the police of any criminal wrongdoing, but indicted scores of protesters and civic activists on charges of staging violent protests in Yongsan that led to the deaths of six people.