Police Chief Yoon Hee-geun Was Not in Seoul on the Day of the Disaster... Went to Bed Around 11 PM

Yoon Hee-geun, Commissioner of the National Police Agency Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] It has been revealed that Yoon Hee-geun, Commissioner of the National Police Agency, was not in Seoul at the time of the Itaewon tragedy.

The National Police Agency stated on the 4th, "Commissioner Yoon was visiting the Chungbuk region for personal reasons on the day of the Itaewon tragedy, September 29th, and was asleep around 11 p.m." The agency also added, "At 11:32 p.m. that day, he received a text message from the situation officer about casualties occurring in the Yongsan Itaewon area but did not check it, and he did not answer a phone call at 11:52 p.m."

According to the National Police Agency, Commissioner Yoon became aware of the Itaewon tragedy situation at 12:14 a.m. the following day. This was about 10 minutes after the agency’s situation room received the disaster report from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s situation room at around 12:02 a.m. At that time, nearly two hours had passed since the accident occurred, and many casualties had already been reported.

After waking up late, Commissioner Yoon reportedly received a situation report from the situation officer and then called Kim Kwang-ho, Chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, to order a full-scale response. The National Police Agency also reported that he chaired a command meeting at the police agency in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, at 2:30 a.m. The agency stated, "We are operating a special investigation headquarters and a special inspection team regarding this incident and are doing our best to uncover the truth. We will continue to do our utmost to resolve public suspicions and prepare measures to prevent recurrence, including improving the 112 emergency call system with the participation of external experts."

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