Special Investigation Unit Sends Three People Including Former Seoul Police Department Intelligence Chief to Prosecution for 'Report Deletion'

Yongsan Police Station's Former Intelligence Chief and Staff Included
Charged with Evidence Tampering and Instigation
Excluding Abuse of Authority and Obstruction of Rights Charges

On the 5th, Park Seong-min, former Director of Public Safety Information and Foreign Affairs at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (Police Commissioner), entered the Seoul Western District Court for the pre-trial detention hearing of four police executives who were issued arrest warrants over allegations of inadequate response to the Itaewon disaster and deletion of information reports. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The Police Agency's Special Investigation Headquarters (Special Investigation HQ), investigating the Itaewon disaster, handed over former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Public Safety Information and Foreign Affairs Division Chief (Senior Superintendent) Park Seong-min and former Yongsan Police Station Intelligence Division Chief (Police Superintendent) Kim Jin-ho to the prosecution on the 13th. This is the first case of transfer since the Special Investigation HQ was launched.

On the same day, the Special Investigation HQ announced that Senior Superintendent Park and Police Superintendent Kim were sent to prosecution under arrest on charges of instructing evidence destruction. Additionally, Yongsan Police Station intelligence staff member A was sent to prosecution without detention on charges of evidence destruction. Since its launch on the 1st of last month, the Special Investigation HQ has investigated 22 suspects, including Senior Superintendent Park. Park and others are the first suspects to be handed over to the prosecution among them.

According to the Special Investigation HQ, Senior Superintendent Park is suspected of ordering the deletion of a risk analysis information report prepared during the Halloween period in a chat room where intelligence chiefs from frontline police stations in Seoul gathered after the disaster. The report titled "Itaewon Halloween Festival Public Safety Risk Analysis" reportedly included phrases such as "pedestrians entering the road due to large crowds, reports of traffic inconvenience, concerns about traffic accidents." The Special Investigation HQ concluded that Police Superintendent Kim persuaded staff to delete the report following Senior Superintendent Park's instructions. Staff member A is suspected of participating in the deletion of the report.

However, the Special Investigation HQ decided not to apply charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of exercise of rights against Senior Superintendent Park and Police Superintendent Kim. The crime of abuse of authority and obstruction of exercise of rights is established when a public official abuses their authority related to their duties to give improper orders. This decision is known to have been influenced by the court's interpretation of abuse of authority charges in the judicial scandal case.

Previously, in February 2020, the court acknowledged that former Seoul High Court Chief Judge Lim Seong-geun, who served as the Senior Criminal Division Chief Judge at Seoul District Court from 2015 to 2016, was involved in the trial process and judgment drafting of frontline courts but ruled that he could not be charged with abuse of authority. The logic was that the Senior Criminal Division Chief Judge does not have "authority to abuse" in relation to trial duties, so the charge could not be applied. This ruling was upheld in subsequent appeals and complaints, resulting in acquittals for many judges including former Chief Judge Lim.

The Special Investigation HQ is also reported to have judged, based on this precedent, that the deletion orders by Senior Superintendent Park and Police Superintendent Kim were beyond their authority. A Special Investigation HQ official said, "If the deletion order was according to regulations, it could be considered within the scope of official duties, but the actions of Senior Superintendent Park and others were close to evidence destruction after media reports about the report," adding, "If it is outside official duties, abuse of authority charges cannot be established."

The Special Investigation HQ had applied for arrest warrants for Senior Superintendent Park and Police Superintendent Kim on the 1st. In the case of staff member A, since the facts were acknowledged and it was difficult to refuse orders from superiors, they were excluded from detention targets. Four days later, the Seoul Western District Court judge in charge of warrants, who conducted the pre-arrest hearing for Senior Superintendent Park and others, issued the warrants citing "concerns about evidence destruction." The Special Investigation HQ conducted about a week of detention investigation and on this day closed the case regarding the "information report deletion suspicion" incident.

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