Special Investigation Division of the National Police South Korea (South Korea) charged with investigating Itawon tragedy which killed at least 156 people, named six high-ranking officials as suspects. The six South Korean officials were charged with professional negligence leading to death.
As reported The herald of KoreaOn Monday (11/7/2022), one of the named suspects was former Yongsan Police Chief Lee Im-jae, in charge of supervising the district Itaewon.
The Special Investigation Division, which was formed and initiated an investigation since last week, is investigating the cause of the precipitous crash in Itaewon’s narrow alley during Halloween celebrations on October 29 and the authorities’ response to the situation.
“We examined 154 people and named six suspects,” Special Investigation Team spokesman Kim Dong-Wook said at a press conference on Monday (7/11) local time.
The six suspects were Lee as former Yongsan Police Chief Ryu Mi-jin of the Seoul Metropolitan Police who was in charge of the situation room in Seoul at the time of the incident, two officers from the Yongsan Police Intelligence Team , then Yongsan Park District Chief Hee-young and Yongsan Choi Seong-beom Fire Chief.
The six suspects are accused of professional negligence resulting in death. Meanwhile, Lee and Ryu could be charged with further charges, namely negligence in duty, and two intelligence team officials could be charged with further charges of abuse of authority and destruction of evidence.
The results of the investigation by the special team showed that Lee, who was still the Yongsan police chief when the incident occurred, left a restaurant near the station on October 29, around 21:47 local time, after having been warned of the dangerous situation in Itaewon.
He arrived near Noksapyeong station about 10 minutes later in his car. It is known that the distance between Noksapyeong Station and Itaewon Station is about 10 minutes on foot. However, Lee chose to continue the journey in his car amidst traffic jams and had to take a detour to reach the scene of the accident.
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