Yongsan Police Station Deletes Report on 'Halloween Safety Accident' Concerns After Tragedy (Comprehensive)

Investigation Underway by Police Agency Special Inspection Team
Special Investigation Unit Also Detects Signs While Analyzing Seized Items

On the afternoon of the 2nd, a member of the Special Investigation Headquarters (Special Unit) of the police, who completed a search and seizure at the Yongsan Police Station in Seoul, is coming out of the building. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Seongpil Cho, Byungseon Gong] It has been revealed that the Intelligence Division of the Yongsan Police Station in Seoul posted several intelligence reports on the internal network expressing concerns about safety accidents during the Itaewon Halloween event period, and then deleted them after the tragedy. The Police Agency’s Special Inspection Team is currently investigating whether there was any evidence tampering related to this matter.

According to a compilation of reports on the 6th, police officers belonging to the Intelligence Division of Yongsan Station prepared multiple intelligence reports ahead of the Itaewon Halloween festival and uploaded them to the internal network. The reports commonly noted concerns about safety accidents due to the large crowds gathering. However, all of these reports were deleted from the internal network after the tragedy on the 29th of last month. Some suspect that these reports containing safety concerns were deliberately deleted after issues regarding the police’s initial response on the day of the tragedy surfaced.

The Special Investigation Headquarters of the Police Agency also discovered this circumstance while analyzing materials secured during a search of the Yongsan Station Intelligence Division on the 2nd. The Special Investigation Headquarters suspects that senior officers in the Yongsan Intelligence Division attempted to destroy evidence to avoid responsibility for ignoring frontline intelligence officers’ reports related to safety accidents. A detailed investigation will be conducted as soon as the analysis of the seized materials is completed.

The Yongsan Intelligence Division reportedly stated that the materials were deleted because they became unnecessary, based on the "Regulations on Police Officers’ Intelligence Collection and Processing." According to these regulations, intelligence reports must be promptly discarded when the collected and prepared information has fulfilled its purpose and is no longer needed. The Yongsan Intelligence Division also reportedly submitted the offline copies of the intelligence report documents to the Special Inspection Team.

A representative of the Inspection Team said, "The investigation regarding the allegations is ongoing," and added, "We are checking whether the reports submitted by the Yongsan Intelligence Division are complete or if there are more." A Yongsan Station official stated, "We will sincerely cooperate with the inspection and investigation."

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