'Report Deletion' Former Seoul Cheong Intelligence Chief and Others Detention Period Extended by Ten Days

On the 5th, the pre-trial detention hearing for four police executives, who were charged with poor response to the Itaewon disaster and suspected deletion of information reports, was held. Former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Public Safety Information and Foreign Affairs Division Chief Park Seong-min (Police Commissioner) is entering the Seoul Western District Court. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy reporters Seongpil Cho and Taewon Choi] The detention period has been extended for former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Public Safety Information and Foreign Affairs Division Chief Park Seong-min (Senior Superintendent) and former Yongsan Police Station Intelligence Division Chief Kim Jin-ho (Superintendent), who are under prosecution investigation for allegedly ordering the deletion of a risk analysis report during the Halloween period.

The Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office announced on the 22nd that the court recently accepted their request to extend the detention period for Senior Superintendent Park and others. Accordingly, the detention period, which was set to expire on this day, has been extended until the 1st of next month. Under the Criminal Procedure Act, the detention period for suspects during prosecution investigation is set at 10 days. However, with court approval, this period can be extended within a limit not exceeding 10 additional days.

Earlier, Senior Superintendent Park was sent to detention on the 13th on charges of instructing the deletion of a risk analysis information report prepared during the Halloween period in a chatroom where intelligence chiefs from frontline police stations in Seoul gathered after the disaster (obstruction of evidence). Superintendent Kim was handed over to the prosecution on the same day on charges of ordering his subordinates to delete the intelligence report following Park’s instructions.

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, traffic inconvenience reports, and concerns about traffic accidents." The Special Investigation Headquarters (SIH) of the National Police Agency, which investigated this case, sent Yongsan Police Station intelligence staff member A, who participated in deleting the report, to prosecution without detention on charges of evidence destruction.

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