The sign of the National Police Agency Special Investigation Headquarters in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Reporter Seong Dong-hun
The National Police Agency’s Special Investigations Headquarters, which is investigating the “Itaewon Halloween disaster,” has decided to send Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Kim Kwang-ho without detention next week.
In a briefing on the 5th, a special script official said, “We plan to send four people, including Seoul Commissioner Kim, Seoul Fire Station Chief Yongsan Choi Seong-beom, Superintendent Ryu Mi-jin and the Seoul 112 Office Situation 3 Team Leader (police officer), to be charged next week without detention without applying for an arrest warrant.
When asked why Commissioner Kim was sent without detention, an official from the Special Investigation Unit said, “We took into account that the incident was less likely to be predicted than the Yongsan Police Station in charge of the incident.” Itaewon area and that we were aware of the incident at around 11:36pm on the day of the disaster.” .
As for the reason for sending Chief Choi without detention, he said, “It was the result of sufficient discussions with the prosecution about the necessity and expediency of the arrest” and “a special edition decision.” The special version requested an arrest warrant for Chief Choi, but the prosecution rejected it.
As for Superintendent Ryu, who served as a situation manager at the Seoul Metropolitan Government at the time of the disaster, the special edition said, “It is confirmed that he did not work as a situation manager, but is doing work that has nothing to do with security incidents, so he has no obligation to establish security measures in advance. , explaining the reason for detention.
Regarding the police officer, he said: “The negligence of not having correctly handled the 112 reports warning of the risk of security incidents is recognized, but the necessity and opportunity of the arrest was judged insufficient, as for example, take note of the content of the allegations.”
An official of the special edition said, “I will be able to summarize the final conclusions of the special edition around next week and tell you about ‘top line’ investigations such as the Ministry of Public Administration and Security and the Seoul Metropolitan Government. ” The special edition is known to have concluded that it was difficult to hold these higher-level institutions accountable and concluded that they were not guilty.
Regarding the point of ‘cut-the-tail investigation’, a manager of the special edition said: “There must be a duty of specific attention to seek responsibility for accidental death. (Accident) There must be possibilities for predictability and avoidance, but according to the provisions of the Disaster and Safety Act, the specificity and immediacy of the duty seems to be less as the higher authority proceeds. He added, “I think the Yongsan-gu Office is primarily responsible for disaster prevention in a specific area of Itaewon and in a specific situation”.
In the first hearing of the State Affairs Special Commission Investigation into the Itaewon Disaster held at the National Assembly the previous day, a fire department official said, “There weren’t many police officers at the scene. When I arrived, I saw about 2 people. Regarding the testimony that the rescue operation was difficult because the site inspection was not done well, he rebutted saying, “There are parts that are different from the facts.”
A manager of the special edition said: ‘Around 10.30pm when firefighters first arrived at the scene, nine police officers had already arrived at the scene of the accident and were carrying out construction work. rescue”. I think he (the firefighter) didn’t recognize it accurately.
