"Order to Delete Halloween Festival Risk Report"... Testimony from Intelligence Officer in Yongsan Emerges

Before the Itaewon Halloween Festival, intelligence officers testified that a police executive, who was indicted on charges of ordering the deletion of a risk analysis report prepared by the Yongsan Police Station in Seoul after the disaster, gave the deletion order.

On the 7th, the Criminal Division 11 of the Seoul Western District Court (Presiding Judge Bae Seong-jung) held the third trial session for Park Seong-min, former head of the Intelligence Department of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, and Kim Jin-ho, former head of the Intelligence Division of Yongsan Police Station, who were indicted on charges of instructing evidence destruction and damaging public electronic records.

On the 31st, in front of Exit 1 of Itaewon Station on Seoul Subway Line 6 in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, chrysanthemums and memorial messages placed by citizens can be seen at the memorial space for the victims of the 'Halloween crowd' crush accident. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Former head Park and former chief Kim are accused of ordering the deletion of intelligence reports prepared by intelligence officers at Yongsan Police Station in preparation for the police investigation following the Itaewon disaster.

On that day, intelligence officers Jeong and Lee from Yongsan Police Station appeared as witnesses. Both testified that former chief Kim instructed the intelligence officers to delete all intelligence reports.

When asked by the prosecutor, "Did Chief Kim order the deletion of materials on November 2nd last year?" Intelligence officer Jeong answered, "Yes." He added, "I don't remember the exact time, but he said it several times."

Intelligence officer Lee also said, "I recall deleting the reports under former chief Kim's orders after the special investigation headquarters of the police completed their search and seizure."

Meanwhile, the trial of Yongsan Police Station executives related to the report deletion charges began in April. The court plans to focus on whether the executives' deletion of the reports was justified.

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