Simultaneous Raids Including Police Agency Chief's Office... Full-Scale Investigation into 'Itaewon Disaster' (Comprehensive)

Special Investigation Headquarters Conducts First Forced Search of Police Leadership
Including Yongsan District Office, Fire Department, and Seoul Transportation Corporation
Second Search Following the One on the 2nd

The signboard of the Itaewon Accident Special Investigation Headquarters (Special Investigation Unit), which is 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 Police Agency's Special Investigation Headquarters investigating the Itaewon disaster began a forced investigation into the police command on the 8th. It is a large-scale simultaneous raid targeting four institutions including the police, local governments, and fire departments.

On the morning of the same day, the Special Investigation Headquarters dispatched 84 investigators to 55 locations including the Police Agency Chief's Office, Seoul Police Chief's Office, and Yongsan Police Station Chief's Office to secure related materials to determine responsibility for the Itaewon disaster. The main items targeted for seizure are ▲mobile phones ▲documents related to the Itaewon Halloween festival ▲PC electronic information ▲CCTV video files, etc. The raid targets also included the Yongsan District Office Chief's Office, Seoul Fire and Disaster Headquarters, and Seoul Transportation Corporation headquarters in addition to the police. This is the second time the Special Investigation Headquarters has conducted a raid related to this disaster since the first on the 2nd. Notably, this raid marks the Special Investigation Headquarters' first forced investigation into the police command, including the Police Agency Chief's Office.

The inclusion of the Police Agency Chief's Office and Seoul Police Chief's Office among the raid targets is understood to be aimed at verifying whether Police Chief Yoon Hee-geun and Seoul Police Chief Kim Kwang-ho, among the police command, took appropriate preemptive measures and responses during the accident. Earlier, it was revealed that Chief Yoon was in Jecheon, Chungbuk on the day of the disaster, the 29th of last month, and was unaware of the disaster until he fell asleep late at night. After falling asleep, he was only informed of the situation at 12:14 a.m. the next day via a phone call with the Police Agency Situation Officer, after which he departed for Seoul and presided over a command meeting at the Police Agency at 2:30 a.m.

Kim, the chief responsible for Seoul's public safety, similarly was criticized for neglecting command due to late recognition of the situation in a blind spot. On the day of the disaster, he managed assembly control duties in his office at Gwanghwamun Seoul Police Station until around 9 p.m., then left for his home in Gangnam-gu. He only became aware of the disaster upon receiving a call from Lee Im-jae, Yongsan Police Station Chief, at around 11:36 p.m.

On the afternoon of the 7th, Yoon Hee-geun, Commissioner of the National Police Agency, who attended the full meeting of the Administrative Safety Committee held at the National Assembly, is seen closing his eyes.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The raid targets also included the offices of former Police Station Chief Lee and Yongsan District Mayor Park Hee-young, both of whom have been booked as suspects by the Special Investigation Headquarters. Former Chief Lee, as the police station chief responsible for the accident area, is accused of arriving late, neglecting command management, and delaying reports despite his overall responsibility at the scene. Mayor Park is accused of neglecting countermeasures to prevent the accident despite anticipating the crowd concentration in the Itaewon area on the day of the disaster as the head of the disaster responsibility management agency. The Special Investigation Headquarters plans to collect evidence supporting these allegations through this raid.

Additionally, the Special Investigation Headquarters included the offices of the Yongsan Police Station Intelligence Division Chief and Intelligence Section Chief, who are suspected of deleting internal reports warning of safety accident risks due to crowd concentration on the day of the disaster, as raid targets. Regarding Chief Superintendent Ryu Mi-jin, who was on duty as the Seoul Police Agency Situation Manager on the day of the disaster and is accused of negligence leading to multiple casualties, related materials are being secured from the Seoul Police 112 Situation Room Chief's office and others.

The Special Investigation Headquarters is also verifying whether the joint response requests from the police and 119 emergency calls received before the accident were handled appropriately by targeting the Seoul Fire and Disaster Headquarters and Yongsan Fire Station. The Special Investigation Headquarters had booked the Yongsan Fire Station Chief as a suspect on the 6th. Furthermore, the Special Investigation Headquarters is conducting a raid on Itaewon Station, which is suspected of exacerbating the damage by not implementing a no-stop measure on the day of the disaster. Itaewon Station was one of the eight targets of the Special Investigation Headquarters' first raid on the 2nd. This time, the scope has been expanded to include the Seoul Transportation Corporation headquarters in relation to this suspicion.

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