Special Investigation Unit files charges of 'negligent homicide and injury' against Yongsan Police Chief, Yongsan District Mayor, and 4 others

The signboard of the Itaewon Accident Special Investigation Headquarters (Special Investigation Unit), investigating the inadequate response to the 'Itaewon tragedy,' was hung at the entrance of the Mapo Police Station in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 6th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The Special Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency announced on the 7th, the tenth day since the Itaewon tragedy occurred, that six individuals, including former Yongsan Police Station Chief (Senior Superintendent) Lee Im-jae and Yongsan District Mayor Park Hee-young, have been booked as suspects and related investigations are underway. On the night of October 29, the day of the tragedy, Senior Superintendent Ryu Mi-jin, who was on duty as the Situation Manager at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, and the Yongsan Fire Station Chief were also booked on the same charges. Additionally, the head and section chief of the Yongsan Police Station’s Intelligence Division were charged with abuse of authority, evidence tampering, and professional negligence causing death or injury for deleting an internal report warning of safety accident risks due to crowd congestion on the day of the tragedy after the incident.

Kim Dong-wook, spokesperson for the Special Investigation Headquarters, held a briefing at the Police Agency in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, that morning and conveyed the current booking status. The Special Investigation Headquarters explained that after investigating 7,134 seized items obtained through raids on eight locations including the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on the 2nd, and questioning 138 related witnesses, they booked Senior Superintendent Lee and others as suspects. Furthermore, the Special Investigation Headquarters completed the first analysis of a total of 157 videos, including 57 CCTV videos near the tragedy site, 78 SNS videos, and 22 tip-off videos, to understand the circumstances of the accident.

Earlier, the National Police Agency’s Special Inspection Team, investigating allegations of police negligence related to the Itaewon tragedy, sent an official request for investigation to the Special Investigation Headquarters regarding Senior Superintendent Lee, Senior Superintendent Ryu, and the head and section chief of the Yongsan Police Station’s Intelligence Division. However, it was confirmed that no formal investigation request or inspection materials were submitted even after four days. Separately, the Special Investigation Headquarters proceeded with the investigation and booked these four individuals as suspects and began the investigation.

The Special Investigation Headquarters particularly explained regarding the head and section chief of the Yongsan Police Station’s Intelligence Division, who ignored the intelligence report containing safety accident concerns before the Itaewon Halloween Festival and ordered the deletion of the report after the tragedy, that "they are continuing to investigate the deletion circumstances by identifying the fact that the Hangul file of the intelligence report stored on the computer of the report’s author was deleted and the related coercion situation." They also identified circumstances where, after the report was automatically deleted, a Yongsan Police Station executive attempted to coerce the author to "act as if the report was not written." The Special Investigation Headquarters plans to summon the author of the report for questioning this afternoon in relation to this matter.

For the investigation to determine the cause of the accident, the Special Investigation Headquarters stated that they are analyzing geographical risk levels based on the 3D scanner measurement results secured through the first joint forensic examination conducted with the National Forensic Service on the 31st of last month, and are also identifying changes in crowd density by time zone based on CCTV video materials. A Special Investigation Headquarters official said, "We will conduct thorough investigations without any doubt through full-scale summons and additional compulsory investigations regarding not only the cause of the accident but also all currently raised suspicions."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.