Special Investigation Unit Adds Charges Against Former Yongsan Police Chief... Plans to Reapply for Arrest Warrant

Forgery of Official Documents and Accomplice Charges
Consideration of Warrant Application for Yongsan District Mayor
Ryu Mijin Faces Charges of Negligent Homicide and Injury in Duty

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

[Asia Economy reporters Seongpil Cho, Byeongdon Yoo, and Byungseon Gong] The Police Agency's Special Investigation Headquarters (Special Investigation HQ), which is investigating the Itaewon disaster, will reapply for an arrest warrant against former Yongsan Police Station Chief (Senior Superintendent) Lee Im-jae on charges of falsifying official documents and using them.

On the 15th, the Special Investigation HQ held a briefing at the Mapo Office of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and stated, "We have added charges of falsifying official documents and using them against former Chief Lee," and "We are conducting final supplementary investigations to apply for the arrest warrant." Initially, the Special Investigation HQ planned to reapply for the arrest warrant for former Chief Lee within this week, but the timing was delayed somewhat as the supplementary investigation took longer than expected. A Special Investigation HQ official said regarding the timing of the arrest warrant application, "We need to observe a little longer."

Earlier, on the 1st, the Special Investigation HQ applied for an arrest warrant against former Chief Lee on charges of professional negligence resulting in death and injury. However, the court dismissed the warrant, stating that "it is difficult to recognize the grounds and substantiality for detention." Since then, the Special Investigation HQ has been conducting supplementary investigations to substantiate the existing charges and has been considering applying charges of falsifying official documents. During this process, it was reported that there was evidence that former Chief Lee personally reviewed the situation report in which his whereabouts on the day of the disaster were falsely recorded. Former Chief Lee arrived at the Itaewon Police Substation near the accident site at around 11:05 p.m. on October 29. However, the Yongsan Police Station's situation report recorded his arrival as 10:17 p.m., immediately after the disaster.

The Special Investigation HQ also booked a Yongsan Police Station employee on the 6th of this month on suspicion of falsifying the situation report under former Chief Lee's instructions. It was understood that the employee went to support the Itaewon Police Substation for the Halloween event on the day of the disaster and wrote the situation report. The Special Investigation HQ believes that the employee did not write the problematic situation report under former Chief Lee's direct instructions.

Park Hee-young, Mayor of Yongsan District Photo by Yonhap News

The Special Investigation HQ is also considering applying for arrest warrants for key suspects including Park Hee-young, Mayor of Yongsan District; Choi Seong-beom, Chief of Yongsan Fire Station; and Song Eun-young, Stationmaster of Itaewon Station. The Special Investigation HQ believes that the disaster was caused by the combined negligence of several suspects and has focused on legally proving this. Since this is a comprehensive warrant related to all institutions involved in the disaster, whether it is issued is expected to have a significant impact on the Special Investigation HQ's investigation.

The pre-arrest suspect hearings (warrant hearings) for these individuals are expected to be held as early as next week at the Seoul Western District Court. In this case, Judge Kim Yumi, who previously dismissed the arrest warrant for former Chief Lee, is expected to preside over the warrant hearing again. The Seoul Western District Court assigns two warrant judges who each handle warrant hearings for one week, and next week is Judge Kim's turn. A Special Investigation HQ official said, "We are conducting supplementary investigations without considering which judge will handle the warrant hearing."

The Special Investigation HQ also announced that charges against former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Personnel and Education Director (Senior Superintendent) Ryu Mi-jin have been changed from dereliction of duty to professional negligence resulting in death and injury. A Special Investigation HQ official said, "We judged that Senior Superintendent Ryu's failure to properly perform the situation management officer duties on the day of the disaster caused delays in situation transmission, which influenced the increase in casualties." The Special Investigation HQ plans to consider whether to apply for an arrest warrant for Senior Superintendent Ryu after completing the processing of former Chief Lee and others.

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