Acting Commissioner of Police "No Promise Made to Release Arrestees from Seobu District Court"

Yonhap News

Acting Commissioner of the National Police Agency Lee Ho-young stated on the 20th that he never promised leniency to supporters of President Yoon Seok-yeol who were arrested during the illegal violent riot at the Seoul Western District Court.

During an emergency inquiry by the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee on the same day, Lee responded to a question from Democratic Party lawmaker Yang Bu-nam asking, "Did you promise People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun to grant leniency to those arrested in the Western District Court violence incident?" by saying, "I have not been informed that such a fact exists."

This denied the claim that on the 18th, the day before the violent incident, when some of President Yoon's supporters were arrested by the police after climbing over the wall of the Western District Court, lawmaker Yoon said, "(The police) officials spoke and they will probably be released soon."

The police official with whom lawmaker Yoon reportedly spoke at the time was confirmed to be the chief of Gangnam Police Station.

According to Acting Commissioner Lee, at around 10:51 p.m. that day, lawmaker Yoon called the Gangnam Police Station chief and said, "There are people detained at the Western District Court, so please take good care of them," to which the chief replied, "I will follow procedures and handle it properly."

Lee added that the word "leniency" was never mentioned during their conversation.

The inquiry also raised the issue of "responsibility of the police command" related to the Western District Court incident.

Regarding criticism that the command's response was lax, Acting Commissioner Lee said, "I do not agree."

He explained that while the size of President Yoon's support rally near the Western District Court decreased by 95%, from 35,000 to 1,300 people, the riot police deployed on site were reduced by about 70%, from 3,000 to 900, stating, "We deployed sufficient personnel, but it was still insufficient."

However, he expressed regret over the violent incident and the injury of 51 police officers, saying, "I feel sorry about it," and added, "We are currently preparing to thoroughly verify the facts and establish measures to prevent recurrence."

Regarding People Power Party floor leader Kwon Seong-dong's claim that the police responded violently by throwing citizens around and kicking a camera-equipped tripod, Lee responded, "I believe that is not true."

Opposition parties continued to call for a thorough investigation into the forces behind the riot.

In this regard, Song Won-young, head of the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Division of the National Police Agency, explained, "We are currently conducting background investigations into conservative YouTuber groups and others. Although it is still in the early stages, we are collecting various evidence and will conduct a thorough investigation if related facts are confirmed."

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