Ryu Mijin Chief Superintendent "Left Situation Room Following Protocol... Reported to Seoul Police Chief After Personnel Deployment"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] On the day of the Itaewon disaster, Ryu Mi-jin, former head of the Personnel Education Division at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and the situation manager at the Seoul Police Agency, testified on the 16th that she was late in learning about the situation because she stayed in her office.

Commissioner Ryu appeared as a witness at the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee plenary session for urgent questioning and said, "I first received a report at 11:39 PM from the situation room about a crush incident," adding, "I had not received any reports before that." Commissioner Ryu became aware of the crush accident 1 hour and 24 minutes after the incident occurred.

She also answered that she did not receive the two joint response requests from the fire authorities before the accident occurred.

She explained that it was customary for the situation manager to wait in their own office rather than the situation room, saying, "I do not know well how the personnel in the situation room were working at that time."

Seoul Police Chief Kim Kwang-ho received a report from Commissioner Ryu at 12:01 AM the day after the disaster. Commissioner Ryu explained that she deployed personnel to the scene for about 20 minutes after becoming aware of the accident and before reporting to Chief Kim.

She said, "After returning to the situation room, I heard that the Yongsan Police Station chief had already reported and that the Seoul Police Chief was heading to the scene," adding, "I thought it was a priority to deploy available personnel to the scene, so I took action and then organized the situation and reported it to Seoul Police Chief Kim Kwang-ho via text message."

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