Former Yongsan Police Chief Lee Im-jae: "I Did Not Receive a Report Regarding the Itaewon Disaster"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Former Yongsan Police Chief Lee Im-jae stated on the 16th that he was not informed at all about the situation that occurred at the Itaewon disaster site.

Lee appeared as a witness at the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee plenary session on the same day and said, "I did not receive a single report related to the Itaewon disaster that night," adding, "I became aware of the Itaewon disaster situation around 11 p.m." This means he only accurately understood the situation 45 minutes after the disaster occurred.

On the afternoon of the 29th of last month, when the disaster occurred, Lee finished managing the rally and had dinner at a restaurant near the Yongsan Police Station. He left the restaurant around 9:47 p.m. Although the restaurant was about 2 km from the disaster site, he tried to travel by car but only arrived at the Itaewon Police Substation around 11:05 p.m., after about an hour had passed.

Lee claimed, "There should be radio recordings and call logs, but around 9:57 p.m., I arrived at Noksapyeong Station and asked the 112 Situation Room Chief who was managing the site at the time about the situation," adding, "I was told that there were many people and traffic congestion, but no special situation was reported."

At 9:57 p.m. that day was 18 minutes before the disaster occurred, and by that time, nine 112 emergency calls warning of the risk of crowd crush had already been received at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's 112 Security Comprehensive Situation Room.

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