Prosecutors Complete Search and Seizure at 9 Locations Including Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency... National Police Agency to Resume Tomorrow (Comprehensive Report 2)

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Jongno-gu, Seoul [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Choi Taewon and Kim Hyungmin] The prosecution, which took over the custody of some suspects related to the Itaewon tragedy and launched supplementary investigations, has concluded search and seizure operations at nine locations including the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Yongsan Police Station, and Yongsan District Office.

The Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office announced on the 10th that it had ended the search and seizure at nine locations excluding the Police Agency headquarters around 7 p.m. The Police Agency headquarters has extensive digital forensic data, so the search and seizure will resume on the 11th.

The Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office executed search warrants at 10 locations including the Police Agency from 9:30 a.m. that day. The search and seizure are related to charges of professional negligence resulting in death or injury, which the prosecution is investigating following the special investigation team's detention and transfer to prosecution.

The prosecution is reported to have additionally secured evidence supporting the criminal charges against detained officials including Lee Imjae (54), former chief of Yongsan Police Station, Park Heeyoung (62), head of Yongsan District Office, as well as police and district office officials such as Song Byungju (52), former head of the 112 Situation Room at Yongsan Police Station, and Yoo Seungjae (57), deputy head of Yongsan District Office.

Prosecutors and investigators were dispatched to the Yongsan District Office’s Secretariat, Public Relations Office, and Smart Information Division to collect records of Park’s work before and after the tragedy and internal network transmission logs. Departments within the police related to the Itaewon tragedy, including the Yongsan Police Station’s Intelligence Division and Community Safety Division, the Police Agency’s Informatization Infrastructure Division, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Public Safety Information and Foreign Affairs Department, and the Itaewon Police Substation, were also included in the search and seizure targets.

The prosecution plans to analyze messenger chat logs of police officers from Yongsan Police Station and others by securing the Police Agency’s internal network servers. Additional materials were also obtained from the Yongsan Police Station and Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency intelligence departments involved in the alleged deletion of the so-called Halloween risk analysis report.

Besides locations visited during the special investigation team’s inquiry, new search and seizure targets this time included Seoul Southern Detention Center where former chief Lee and head Park are detained, and the homes of Park Sungmin, former head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Public Safety Information and Foreign Affairs Department, Kim Jinho, former chief of Yongsan Police Station’s Intelligence Division, and former head Song.

The special investigation team transferred 10 people including former chief Lee and head Park to the prosecution last month on charges of professional negligence resulting in death or injury. Among them, former head Park and former chief Kim were indicted in custody on the 30th of last month on charges of instructing evidence destruction and damaging official electronic records.

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