The farmer Baek Nam-gi (69) breathed his last breath before hearing a word of apology from the Park Geun-hye government. No one took the responsibility and no one was punished for his death. Baek's death is expected to fuel the controversy and debate over excessive use of police force in suppressing riots and over who was responsible for the tragedy. Baek was born in Boseong-gun, Jeollanam-do in 1948. He entered Chung-Ang University, but returned to his hometown in 1981 and became a farmer after joining demonstrations to abolish the Yushin dictatorship. In 1986, he joined the Catholic Farmers' Association and led the movement to promote Korean wheat. Baek joined the First People's Rally near Gwanghwamun, Seoul on November 14, 2015 calling for President Park to keep her promise to raise the purchasing price for rice. During this day's demonstration, he fell after being hit by the police water cannon as the protestors tugged at a rope that tied the police buses together to form a barricade. He was transferred to a hospital with the help of the other rally participants, but never regained consciousness after that day. He died 317 days later on September 25. For Baek's family, who were only allowed two visitations a day at Seoul National University Hospital's intensive care unit, each day was a continuation of more heartache. They demanded an apology from the government and asked that the government punish those responsible. But the president and the senior police officials never budged. The police refuted that they had made a legitimate response to the illegal violent demonstration. Maina Kiai, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, who visited South Korea last January, mentioned Baek's incident at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in June and pointed out, "The use of water cannons was indiscriminate and in some cases, it is difficult to justify the use of the water cannon targeting a specific person." The South Korean government protested saying, "We never used the water cannon on a peaceful and legitimate demonstration. It was only used to stop illegal violent protestors." Baek's wife and daughter engaged in a one-person demonstration in front of Cheong Wa Dae demanding the truth behind the incident as well as the punishment of those responsible. However, Cheong Wa Dae remained silent. President Park remained silent to the opposition parties' request to resolve Baek's case during the meeting with the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties at Cheong Wa Dae on September 12 just as she had in an earlier meeting with the floor leaders of the three parties in May. The National Assembly held a parliamentary hearing more than 300 days after Baek was admitted to the hospital, but the hearing simply reconfirmed the "ignorance" of public authority as witnesses simply answered that they did not know anything. During the parliamentary hearing organized by the National Assembly's Safety Administration Committee on September 12, Kang Shin-myung, former commissioner general of the National Police Agency said, "It is not appropriate to unconditionally apologize when a person is injured or killed," and refused to make an official apology. Kang argued, "I can do so after clearly identifying the cause and legal responsibility. It is very inappropriate to talk about this only with the results." The opposition parties requested the police to submit the inspection report, which the police drew up in the early days of the incident, for they believed a review was necessary in order to get to the truth of the matter. The police insisted on their existing position that they could not submit the report for a prosecutors' investigation and trial were still underway. However, the prosecutors' investigation that the police mentioned has failed to take a single step forward. Baek's family reported seven people including former Commissioner General Kang to the Prosecutors' Office on charges of attempted murder, and this case is currently in the hands of Criminal Department 3 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. However, they have failed to make any progress. One prosecutor said, "We have no plans to summon the police." On September 2, the National Human Rights Commission said, "Promptly identifying the truth on the injuries that occurred in the process of containing a riot is the only way to prevent a tragic incident as in the case of Baek Nam-gi," and called for Public Prosecutor General Kim Soo-nam to promptly investigate the issue. Previously, the human rights commission had deemed that the use of water cannons could seriously harm the human body and advised the police to stipulate the specific criteria for the use of the water cannons in relevant legislation in 2008 and 2012. But the police refused to accept the recommendation claiming that they were using the water cannons safely according to guidelines. Citizens who had heard that Baek was in critical condition through social network service sites on September 24 gathered at a tent pitched in front of the hospital. When the police dispatched officers near the Seoul National University Hospital, including the entrance to the funeral home, the citizens protested, "They are driving another knife into Baek's heart." This day was Baek's seventieth birthday.