'Itaewon Report Deletion' Park Seong-min and Kim Jin-ho Present Conflicting Claims in Court

by Choi Taewon

Published 03 Apr.2023 12:43(KST)

"No Order to Delete Report" vs "Multiple Orders Given"

Former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Public Safety Intelligence Foreign Affairs Division Chief Park Seong-min and former Yongsan Police Station Intelligence Division Chief Kim Jin-ho, who are accused of instructing the deletion of reports related to the Itaewon Halloween Festival, presented conflicting claims at the pretrial conference.

On December 5 last year, when the detention hearing for four police executives who were charged with poor response to the Itaewon disaster and allegations of deleting information reports was held, Park Seong-min, former head of the Public Safety Information and Foreign Affairs Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, was entering the Seoul Western District Court. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The Criminal Division 11 of the Seoul Western District Court (Presiding Judge Bae Seong-jung) held a pretrial conference at 10:30 a.m. on the 3rd for Park, former division chief, Kim Jin-ho, former Yongsan Police Station Intelligence Division chief, and Kwak, an intelligence division employee at Yongsan Police Station, all three of whom are charged with instructing the destruction of public electronic records and evidence tampering. The pretrial conference is a procedure to confirm the positions of the prosecution and the defendants and to discuss evidence and witnesses before the trial. Although defendants are not obligated to attend, all three appeared in person that day.

The problematic deleted reports consist of a total of four reports produced by Yongsan Police Station, including an SRI (Special Requirement of Intelligence) report submitted to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. SRI is a system where a higher-level intelligence organization instructs frontline police stations to collect data and receive it back in the form of reports. The prosecution alleges that former division chief Park and former section chief Kim conspired to order the deletion of these reports.

In court that day, Park’s side denied having given any instructions to delete the reports. On the other hand, Kim’s side stated that there were repeated instructions from Park to delete the reports.

Park’s defense stated, “We deny the instruction to delete one of the reports,” and added, “Regarding the other three reports, there was no instruction to delete; rather, there was talk along the lines of ‘let’s not submit them.’”

Kim’s defense argued, “One of the reports was already seized through the execution of a search warrant and submitted as evidence, so the charge of evidence tampering does not apply. Regarding the instruction to damage public electronic records, deletion is possible if done by a person with legitimate authority or with the consent of such a person, so the illegality is negated.” They also argued that even if the previous claim is not accepted, it is difficult to judge illegality because Kim received repeated instructions from Park. Kim’s attorney claimed, “Park repeatedly emphasized to Kim that his instructions were in accordance with police regulations. Kim received repeated instructions from Park via messenger and phone calls and found it difficult to judge the instructions as illegal,” asserting innocence.

Meanwhile, Kwak’s side said they are reviewing their position but indicated, “We are organizing our stance toward admitting the charges.”

They are accused of ordering and carrying out the deletion of intelligence reports anticipating crowds gathering in Itaewon during Halloween Day. Park is charged with instructing frontline intelligence chiefs, including Kim, via messenger on November 2 last year to delete intelligence reports indicating that crowds might gather in Itaewon on Halloween Day. Kim is also under investigation for ordering his subordinate Kwak to delete reports stored on a work PC.

Originally, the trial for these individuals was conducted by the Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul Western District Court (Presiding Judge Kang Seong-su). However, on the 3rd of last month, during the second pretrial conference, the case was transferred to Criminal Division 11, which is handling cases involving former Yongsan Police Station Chief Lee Im-jae and four others. This was because a significant portion of the evidence records overlapped with those related to Park and former Chief Lee.

The next pretrial conference for these defendants is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on the 24th.