The art of shunning responsibility

Testimonies from former Yongsan Police chief Lee Im-jae and Ryu Mi-jin — a situation monitoring officer at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) during the deadly crowd crush in Itaewon before Halloween — in the National Assembly on Wednesday show a critical lack of leadership in the police. Their weird remarks show why top police officers should be held accountable for the tragic 158 deaths.

Appearing in the Public Administration and Security Committee, Lee said that even though he asked the SMPA to dispatch more police to Itaewon to prepare for Halloween festivities there, the SMPA was reluctant to accept his request, citing the demand for more police to control protest rallies elsewhere that day. Lee’s remarks target Kim Kwang-ho, head of the SMPA, who allegedly refused to send more officers to the neighborhood.

We are dumbfounded at the explanation from Ryu that she stayed in her office instead of the situation room. She said it was a long tradition. Does it mean she could stay away from the situation room even after her aides received emergency calls from the spot for four hours? If a senior officer maintained such poor work ethics, how could lower officers serve the people? That’s a sheer dereliction of duty.

The two senior officers made serious mistakes. Given his earlier request for more police, Lee apparently anticipated a looming danger from the congested youngsters in the narrow alley. If the head of the SMPA really rejected his request for more manpower, Lee should have dispatched all of the officers in Yongsan Police Station to protect public safety. Or if he had just ordered officers in the Itaewon precinct to directly report to him in times of emergency, they could have readied themselves from 6 or 7 p.m. to save lives. But he said he had received no report from officers by radio or phone until 30 minutes after the fatal crush.

If Ryu had checked the situation room carefully, we could have avoided a disastrous situation in which tens of youngsters received CPR on the spot. But she said she was notified of the situation about one hour after the tragedy took place.

Such remarks by the two senior officers suggest the possibility of government officials avoiding their responsibility or justifying their behavior. Can we expect a fair investigation when Interior Minister Lee Sang-min and Police Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun, both suspects, are holding onto their posts? A recent survey showed that 55 percent of respondents called for a legislative probe of the disaster while 41 percent did not. Three weeks have passed since. But no one is taking responsibility. We cannot comprehend such a shocking shifting of responsibility among stakeholders.