Park Seong-min, former head of the Foreign Affairs and Information Department of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, and Kim Jin-ho, former information officer at the Yongsan Police Station, enter the Western District Court of Seoul on the 5th to receive an interrogation (review of the warrant) for the suspects before the arrest. yunhap news
On the 13th, the Special Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency (Special Edition), which investigates the poor response to the “Itaewon Halloween disaster”, arrested and sent Park Seong-min, former head of public security information and of Seoul Metropolitan Government Foreign Affairs Department (police officer) and Kim Jin-ho, former head of the information department of Yongsan Police Station (police officer) to the indictment. This is the first case that the Special Edition has sent to the prosecution.
The special version said that this morning, police officer Park and police officer Kim were arrested and sent on charges of instigating the destruction of evidence. Yongsan Police Station Information Division Clerk A was sent without detention on charges of destroying evidence. The special edition, which launched on the 1st of last month, booked and investigated 22 suspects, including police officer Park. Inspector Park and others are among the first suspects to be sent to prosecution.
Inspector Park is suspected of ordering the cancellation of an information report written by the information department of Yongsan Police Station before the Halloween festival, “Itaewon Halloween Festival Public Safety and Risk Analysis”, in a chat room collected by information chiefs of police departments in Seoul after the disaster. The report contained phrases such as “Pedestrians Entering Street Due to Large Crowds, Reporting Traffic Incidents and Traffic Accident Concerns.” The special version concluded that Inspector General Kim had persuaded the staff to cancel the report on Inspector Park’s instructions. Mr A is accused of having participated in the deletion of the report.
With their transfer, the investigation into the ‘suspected cancellation of the disclosure’ was concluded. The special edition said it could not confirm that Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency commissioner Kim Kwang-ho had received a report or was involved in the process of ordering its cancellation.
The special edition plans to reapply for an arrest warrant sooner or later for Lee Im-jae, former head of Yongsan Police Station (superintendent) and Song Byeong-joo, former head of Situation Department 112 of Yongsan Police Station Yongsan Police (police officer), whose arrest warrants were denied. They also agreed to request arrest warrants for Park Hee-young, Seoul’s Yongsan-gu bureau chief, and Choi Seong-beom, Seoul’s Yongsan Fire Station chief.
On this day, the special version summons employees of Yongsan Police Station and Yongsan Fire Station as contact persons for investigation.
