Both ruling and opposition parties demand an apology for the ‘pediatric emergency room raid’… Don't say police, "It's a shame."

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Young-shin = The Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency stated during the government audit on the 27th that it was "unfortunate" regarding the controversy raised over the search and seizure of the Pediatric Emergency Medical Center at Ajou University Hospital.

However, the Gyeonggi Southern Office did not directly apologize or express regret.

At the general audit of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee on this day, the ruling and opposition party lawmakers criticized the search and seizure of the pediatric emergency room at Ajou University Hospital against Ham Young-wook, head of the Gyeonggi Southern District Office's metropolitan investigation team, who appeared as a witness.

In response, Director Ham said, “We will prepare guidelines for medical accidents in the essential medical field,” and added, “We will look more closely at the special characteristics of emergency medical fields in the future.”

He continued, "We will communicate sufficiently with emergency medical staff and medical staff to prioritize patient safety and pay attention to the investigation to the extent that continuity of care is not violated," and added, "We will listen closely to (the comments) and look closely to prevent incidents like this from happening in the future."

Director Ham reaffirmed the police's existing position that, contrary to claims from the medical community, there was no interference with pediatric emergency room treatment during the search and seizure.

He explained, “The medical accident investigation team had prior consultation with hospital officials, waited, and executed the minimum necessary search and seizure in an empty medical room with the participation of officials.”

He said, “We are currently closely reviewing this search and seizure,” and added, “If any problems are found, we will do our best to prevent them from recurring.”

As criticism of the search and seizure continued, voices grew louder about whether the police should apologize.

People Power Party lawmaker Jia Han demanded an apology from Director Ham, saying the police treated medical staff who did their best in good faith to save the patient as criminals.

Representative Lee In-young of the Democratic Party of Korea emphasized the need for an apology, but pointed out that if a direct apology is difficult, there is a need to at least express moral regret.

However, after hesitating several times during his remarks, Director Ham did not directly apologize or express regret.

Instead, he said, "I deeply respect the hard work of the medical staff who devote themselves 24 hours a day to protect the lives of the people," and "As the person in charge of the investigation, I take note and feel sorry for the disruption in medical care experienced by the medical staff at Ajou University's pediatric emergency room during the search and seizure."

He added, “Going forward, we will carefully consider the special characteristics of emergency medical sites, communicate sufficiently with medical staff, and proceed to ensure that there are no disruptions to patient safety and continuity of care.”

Since then, lawmakers have repeatedly pointed out that a deep expression of regret is necessary, but Director Ham said, “I fully understand the purpose of what was said,” and added, “I truly feel sorry for the pain the medical staff must have experienced and the inconvenience to the patients.”

Chairman Lee Man-hee of the Welfare Committee summarized the situation by saying, "At this stage, it appears that the witness (Director Ham Young-wook) has told as much as he could. If there is a need to review the guidelines, whether by calling the head of the Gyeonggi (Southern) Office or an official from the National Investigation Headquarters when there is another meeting later, it would be good to do so."