Four questioned again about the Itaewon crush

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Four questioned again about the Itaewon crush

Published: 28 Nov. 2022, 18:27

Police superintendent general Park Sung-min walks into the office of the special investigation headquarters in Mapo District, western Seoul, on Thursday morning. [YONHAP]

A public official and three police officers were called in for questioning in the investigation of the Itaewon crowd crush.

A National Police Agency's special investigation unit said it called in four people for further questioning on Monday.

The four are: Park Hee-young, head of the Yongsan District Office, Kim Kwang-ho, chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Park Sung-min, a police superintendent general, and Song Byung-joo, a former emergency monitoring officer at Yongsan Police Precinct.

Kim had been called in by the police before and has been reportedly asked about the exact timeline of when he was aware of the incident and his immediate response after the crush was reported.

Yongsan District Office chief Park Hee-young has been brought in for questioning about possible professional negligence. She is prohibited from leaving the country.

Police superintendent general Park and the intelligence chief of Yongsan Police Precinct are being questioned about the possible destruction of evidence.

Park is suspected of ordering an internal intelligence report deleted. The report warned about possible dangers during Halloween celebrations in Itaewon. Park is the highest-ranking police officer being investigated since the establishment of the special investigation unit.

Song, who was previously in charge of the 112 police emergency hotline in Yongsan District, is being investigated for a possible failure to report the situation to Lee Im-jae, former chief of the Yongsan Police Precinct.

The special investigation unit will be investigating more people over the next few weeks.

Last Friday, the team raided the National Fire Agency on suspicions that some documents may have been fabricated regarding the operation of the agency's central control task force.

"The public may feel the investigation process is quite slow, but we have been conducting investigations step by step," said a spokesperson for the special investigation unit.

The Itaewon crush occurred on Oct. 29.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]