Special Investigation Unit, 'Report Deletion' Former Seoul Police Department Intelligence Chief Transferred in Custody (Comprehensive)

Yongsan Former Intelligence Chief and Staff Included
Charged with Evidence Tampering and Incitement
Abuse of Authority Charges Excluded

Investigation Continues into Poor Response Allegations
Reapplication for Arrest Warrant of Former Yongsan Chief Lee Ju

On the 5th, Park Seong-min, former head of the Public Safety Information and Foreign Affairs Division at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (Senior Superintendent), entered the Seoul Western District Court for the pre-trial detention hearing of four police executives who were indicted on 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 (SIH), which is investigating the Itaewon disaster, handed over former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Public Safety Intelligence 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 SIH was launched.

The SIH announced that on the morning of the same day, Senior Superintendent Park and Police Superintendent Kim were sent to the prosecution under arrest on charges of instructing the destruction of evidence. Additionally, an employee A from the Yongsan Police Station Intelligence Division was sent to the prosecution without detention on charges of destroying evidence. Since its launch on the 1st of last month, the SIH has investigated 22 suspects, including Senior Superintendent Park. Park and Kim are the first suspects among them to be handed over to the prosecution.

According to the SIH, 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 "Public Safety Risk Analysis of the Itaewon Halloween Festival" reportedly included phrases such as "pedestrians entering the road due to large crowds, reports of traffic inconvenience, and concerns about traffic accidents." The SIH concluded that Police Superintendent Kim persuaded employees to delete the report under Park's instructions. Employee A is suspected of participating in the deletion of the report.

However, the SIH decided not to apply charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights against Senior Superintendent Park and Police Superintendent Kim. The crime of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights is established when a public official abuses their authority related to their duties to issue improper orders. It is known that this judgment was influenced by the court's interpretation of abuse of authority in the judicial scandal case.

Im Seong-geun, former Chief Judge of Seoul High Court Photo by Yonhap News

Previously, in February 2020, the court in the first trial of the judicial scandal case acknowledged that former Seoul High Court Chief Judge Lim Seong-geun, who served as the Senior Criminal Division Chief Judge at the Seoul District Court from 2015 to 2016, was involved in the trial process and drafting of rulings of frontline trial courts. However, the court ruled that he could not be charged with abuse of authority. The logic was that the Senior Criminal Division Chief Judge has no "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 SIH is also known to have judged that the deletion orders by Senior Superintendent Park and Police Superintendent Kim were beyond their authority based on this precedent. An SIH 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 the scope of official duties, the charge of abuse of authority does not apply."

The SIH applied for arrest warrants for Senior Superintendent Park and Police Superintendent Kim on the 1st. In the case of employee A, since the facts were acknowledged and it was difficult to refuse orders from superiors, they were excluded from detention. Four days later, Judge Kim Yumi, in charge of warrants at the Seoul Western District Court, conducted a pretrial detention hearing and issued the warrants, citing "concerns about evidence destruction." The SIH conducted about a week of detention investigation and on this day closed the case regarding the "information report deletion suspicion."

Former Yongsan Police Chief (Senior Superintendent) Lee Im-jae, who was charged with a warrant over the inadequate response to the Itaewon disaster and allegations of deleting information reports, is leaving the court after completing the pre-arrest detention hearing at the Western District Court in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on the 5th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Separately from this case, the SIH is continuing investigations into allegations of inadequate disaster response by police, fire, and administrative agencies. On the same day, employees from Yongsan Police Station and Yongsan Fire Station were summoned to the SIH investigation room as witnesses for questioning. Earlier, the SIH announced that it had revised its strategy to group key agency heads charged with professional negligence causing death or injury as "joint perpetrators" rather than individuals.

The SIH is also conducting supplementary investigations into former Yongsan Police Station Chief (Senior Superintendent) Lee Im-jae, whose arrest warrant was previously dismissed once. To more thoroughly prove the existing charges of professional negligence causing death or injury, the SIH is reviewing applying charges of falsifying official documents against former Chief Lee. The SIH suspects that former Chief Lee instructed Yongsan Police Station employees to falsely record his arrival time at the disaster site in situation reports. The SIH plans to reapply for an arrest warrant for former Chief Lee as early as this week.

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