Special Investigation Unit, 6 Including Yongsan Police Chief and District Mayor Booked for 'Negligent Homicide and Injury in Duty' (Comprehensive)

Seoul Cheong Situation Manager and Yongsan Fire Station Chief Face Same Charges
Yongsan Police Information Chief and Section Chief Accused of Abuse of Power and Evidence Tampering
Inspection Team Submits Materials Today... Separate Investigation Initiated
Man Wearing 'Rabbit Headband' Cleared of "Pushing" Allegations on the Day

The signboard of the Itaewon Accident Special Investigation Headquarters (Special Investigation Headquarters), investigating the inadequate response to the 'Itaewon Disaster,' 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 disaster 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 disaster, Ryu Mi-jin, Senior Superintendent and duty officer of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Situation Management, and the Yongsan Fire Station Chief were also booked on the same charges. Additionally, the head and manager of the Yongsan Police Station Intelligence Division were charged with abuse of authority, evidence destruction, 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 disaster 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 reported the 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. They also completed the first analysis of a total of 157 videos, including 57 CCTV videos near the disaster site, 78 SNS videos, and 22 tip-off videos, to understand the circumstances of the accident.

Earlier, the Police Agency’s Special Inspection Team investigating allegations of police negligence related to the Itaewon disaster sent a formal request for investigation to the Special Investigation Headquarters regarding Senior Superintendent Lee, Senior Superintendent Ryu, and the head and manager of the Yongsan Police Station 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 their investigation and booked these four individuals as suspects and began the investigation.

The Special Investigation Headquarters particularly explained regarding the head and manager of the Yongsan Police Station 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 disaster, that "they are continuing to investigate the circumstances of the deletion, including the fact that the Hangul file of the intelligence report stored on the computer of the report’s author was deleted and signs of coercion related to the deletion." They also identified signs that after the report was automatically deleted, a Yongsan Police Station executive attempted to coerce the author to "act as if the report was never written." The Special Investigation Headquarters plans to summon the author of the report for questioning this afternoon.

Regarding the booked Yongsan Fire Station Chief, the Special Investigation Headquarters stated that they are investigating whether the handling of the police’s joint response request and 119 emergency calls received before the accident was appropriate. In the case of the Yongsan District Mayor, they are investigating whether the crowd congestion in the Itaewon area was foreseeable as a disaster responsibility management agency and what measures were taken to prevent the accident.

The Special Investigation Headquarters also stated that for the investigation to determine the cause of the accident, they are analyzing geographical risk based on 3D scanner measurement results obtained from the first joint forensic examination conducted with the National Forensic Service on the 31st of last month, and are identifying changes in crowd density by time zone based on CCTV video materials. Regarding the man with the "rabbit headband," who was suspected of deliberately pushing the crowd during the disaster, they concluded there was no evidence of wrongdoing after investigating his mobile phone, CCTV footage, and witnesses, and closed the case. Spokesperson Kim said, "We will conduct thorough investigations without any doubt through formal 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.