Police head admits to poor response in Itaewon crush, launches independent probe

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Police head admits to poor response in Itaewon crush, launches independent probe

Published: 01 Nov. 2022, 12:46

Yoon Hee-keun, commissioner general of the Korea National Police Agency, far right, bows in an apology for the recent Itaewon disaster in a press briefing held Tuesday in Seoul. [YONHAP]

The head of Korea’s police agency on Tuesday conceded that the police response regarding the recent Itaewon disaster had been inadequate and said the agency will set up a special independent body to investigate how the crowd crush in central Seoul happened.

Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun of the Korea National Police Agency said in a joint press briefing Tuesday that he feels “deeply responsible for public safety, and we will do our best so that such a disaster does not happen again,” adding that “a special independent body will be launched from today.”

According to Yoon, there had been multiple reports via the police hotline 112, alerting the police about the seriousness of the situation in Itaewon on Saturday night, before the tragic crush took the lives of over 150 people.

Yoon said that his agency will work on finding out if there were any structural problems in the country’s emergency response system.

On whether he will be resigning to take responsibility for the recent case, Yoon said he thinks what is more important now is to get to the bottom of the issue, and that when the “results of the investigations come out, [he] will take a stance accordingly.”

Yoon also mentioned that the police will look into whether “construction of the Hamilton Hotel [in Itaewon] did not comply with the local construction law.”

BY BAE JAE-SUNG, KIM JEE-HEE [kim.jeehee@joongang.co.kr]